RECAP: Lions v Connacht

READERS’ FORUM: Welcome to our live coverage of the United Rugby Championship Round 16 encounter between the Lions and Connacht at Ellis Park.

The Lions have won their last four URC matches at Ellis Park since the Stormers triumphed there on February 12.

Connacht has won their last eight matches against South African opponents, having last suffered defeat to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein in 2018.

* To read our pre-match predictions, CLICK HERE!

* Our live blog will appear below, it might take a little while to load, please be patient. We apologise for the inconvenience!

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Teams

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Francke Horn, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Sithembiso Sithole.

Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Jean-Pierre Smith, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Manuel Rass, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel.

Connacht: 15 Mack Hansen, 14 John Porch, 13 Bundee Aki, 12 Tom Daly, 11 Alex Wootton, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Niall Murray, 4 Oisín Dowling, 3 Jack Aungier, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley.

Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Greg McGrath, 19 Leva Fifita, 20 Conor Oliver, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Conor Fitzgerald, 23 Shayne Bolton.

Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)

Assistant referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa), Morne Ferreira (South Africa)

TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)