Lions lose star ahead of Bulls clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Lions will be without Emmanuel Tshituka when they host the Bulls in Round 10 of the United Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday after crying off with an injury during training this week.
The flank experienced discomfort in his hamstring at training on Wednesday after being earmarked for the starting line-up. He will be replaced by Ruan Venter, who was originally named on the bench.
This makes way for Izan Esterhuizen to move onto the bench while Etienne Oosthuizen get his first start for the Lions in the URC.
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Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen has gone for the tried and tested combinations, both in the starting line-up as well as the replacement bench.
The two Kriel brothers, Richard at wing for the Lions and David at centre for the Bulls, will have another opportunity for a duel after also facing each other when the two teams met in the previous round at Loftus. The Bulls narrowly managed to scrape through by two points in than encounter.
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Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Hanru Sirgel, 5 Reinhardt Nothnagel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 JP Smith
Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Izan Esterhuizen, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Erich Cronje
Date: Saturday, February 17
Venue: Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
Kick-off: 15.00; 13.00 GMT
Referee: AJ Jacobs (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa), Dylan November (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)