Lions look to rebound against Sunwolves

Franco Mostert will lead the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday when they host the Sunwolves in round five of Super Rugby.

Mostert takes over the captaincy from Warren Whiteley who sustained a grade two PCL injury against the Blues last weekend and will be out for up to four weeks.

Mostert will again don the No.7 jumper in his 69th Super Rugby match on Saturday.

In other changes, Dylan Smith and Jacobie Adriaanse gets a start in the front row while Lourens Erasmus will partner with Marvin Orie at lock. Albertus Smith starts at blindside flanker and Len Massyn will pack down at No. 8.

In the backline Harold Vorster returns to the midfield, which sees Rohan Janse van Rensburg move out to the wing.

These changes are rotational and gives some senior players a rest ahead of the trip to Argentina next week where they will face the Jaguares.

For the Sunwolves, head coach Jamie Joseph has again made plenty of changes.

In the pack, Wimpie van der Walt comes into the second row for Grant Hattingh, while Jiwan Koo takes over at tighthead for Takuma Asahara.

Pieter Labuschagne comes into the side in the No. 7 jersey.

Michael Leitch moves from blindside to No. 8 for this weekend's clash.

Yutaka Nagare is back at scrumhalf and takes over the captaincy. William Tupou moves from the wing to the midfield at outside centre.

'Tongan Godzilla' Hosea Saumaki will have his hands full in his return, matching up with the powerful Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

SUNWOLVES

15. Kotaro Matsushima, 14. Lomano Lemeki, 13. William Tupou, 12. Michael Little, 11. Hosea Saumaki, 10. Harumichi Tatekawa, 9. Yutaka Nagare (VC), 8. Michael Leitch (VC), 7. Pieter Labuschagne, 6. Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 5. Wimpie van der Walt, 4. Kazuki Himeno, 3. Jiwon Koo, 2. Yusuke Niwai, 1. Craig Millar.

Replacements: 16. Atsushi Sakate, 17. Shintaro Ishihara, 18. Hencus van Wyk, 19. Grant Hattingh, 20. Willem Britz, 21. Keisuke Uchida, 22. Ryoto Nakamura, 23. Ryuji Noguchi.

LIONS

15. Andries Coetzee, 14. Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 13. Lionel Mapoe, 12. Harold Vorster, 11. Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10. Elton Jantjies, 9. Ross Cronje, 8. Len Massyn, 7. Franco Mostert (C), 6. Albertus Smith, 5. Marvin Orie, 4. Lourens Erasmus, 3. Jacobus Adriaanse, 2. Malcolm Marx, 1. Dylan Smith.

Replacements: 16. Robbie Coetzee, 17. Sithembiso Sithole, 18. Johannes Jonker, 19. Robert Kruger, 20. Marnus Schoeman, 21. Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22. Howard Mnisi, 23. Shaun Reynolds.

Courtesy of @rugby365