Louw back for Lions

The Emirates Lions will welcome back midfielder Marius Louw as they shake up their squad to face the DHL Stormers in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Louw, who missed the last few games because of injury, returns to partner Henco van Wyk in the midfield, while Gianni Lombard replaces Sam Francis at flyhalf after the latter missed a few kicks in the loss against the Bulls a few weeks ago.

Darrien Landsberg returns at lock where he replaces Ruan Delport in the only other change to the starting line-up while on the bench Lubabalo Dobela is set to make his debut off the bench this week.

Other changes to the bench include a return for Jarod Cairns while Delport drops out of the starting XV onto the bench.

The Lions are currently in 13th position but have two games in hand on other teams in the competition. Still, their recent form suggests they need to win the derby games if they are to have any hand in making not only the top eight, but giving themselves an extended run in the competition.

Emirates Lions: Quan Horn; Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw, Edwill van der Merwe; Gianni Lombard, Morne van den Berg; Francke Horn (captain), Ruan Venter, JC Pretorius, Darrien Landsberg, Etienne Oosthuizen, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha, Juan Schoeman.

Replacements: Jaco Visagie, SJ Kotze, RF Schoeman, Ruan Delport, Jarod Cairns, Nico Steyn, Lubabalo Dobela, Manny Rass.