Nohamba gets first start for Lions against WP

SCRUMHALF Sanele Nohamba will get a starting opportunity for the Lions today when they take on Western Province in a bottom-of-the-log Currie Cup match at Ellis Park (kick-off 5pm).

The 23-year-old will make his second Currie Cup appearance for the Johannesburg side since joining them from Durban in April.

With Jordan Hendrikse with the Springbok Sevens side in London for the penultimate leg of the Word Sevens Series, Tiaan Swanepoel takes over at flyhalf, while James Tedder provides cover on the bench.

In the front row, hooker Morne Brandon gets a starting opportunity, with his replacement PJ Botha set to bring some reinforcement from the bench.

The Lions and Province – in seventh and sixth positions on the log respectively – are playing for pride as neither have a chance of getting into the semi-finals.

Lions backline, attack and skills coach Ricardo Loubscher says they are eager to fix the things he feels they got wrong in their last match.

“We want to build on our momentum. We felt against the Dragons (in the United Rugby Championship) there were some missed opportunities, and that’s something we want to fix,” he said.

After a 21-11 win against the Dragons last weekend, Loubscher said they want to build on that this weekend.

“There are some parts of our game where we really want to take a step forward. The goal is always to score tries, and it was exciting seeing some guys put their hands up. We want to build on this momentum. Our intent on attack was really positive in that game.”

With only two rounds of regular season action left, Loubscher added that the plan is to lay the foundation for next season. “We want to build on our systems, get clarity around our game model and build towards next season.”

Province, meanwhile, have been boosted by the injection of some experience for the fixture. Props Ali Vermaak and Sazi Sandi will bolster the front row, while URC campaigners Adre Smith, Junior Pokomela and Rikus Pretorius are part of the match day squad.

Lions team: 15 Quan Horn 14 Stean Pienaar 13 Henco Van Wyk 12 Matt More 11 Edwill van der Merwe 10 Tiaan Swanepoel 9 Sanele Nohamba 8 Francke Horn 7 Emmanual Tshituka 6 Sibusiso Sangweni 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (captain) 4 Ruben Schoeman 3 Ruan Dreyer 2 Morne Brandon 1 JP Smith.

Bench: 16 Pieter Botha 17 Sti Sithole 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye 19 PJ Steenkamp 20 Jarod Cairns 21 Morne van den Berg 22 Manuel Rass 23 James Tedder. Western Province team: 15 Tristan Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Ebenezer Tshimanga, 10 Timothy Swiel, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Nama Xaba (captain), 5 Adre Smith, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Jacques van Zyl, 1 Ali Vermaak. Bench: 16 HP van Schoor, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 BenJason Dixon, 20 Keke Morabe, 21 Thomas Bursey, 22 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 23 Rikus Pretorius.