STARTS FOR NAUDE, SIRGEL FOR LIONS’ ITALIAN JOB IN TREVISO

• Morgan Naude and Hanru Sirgel get the nod as starters on Sunday.
• JC Pretorius is drafted onto the bench.
• Ruan Venter not considered due to a toe injury.

Emirates Lions Head Coach Ivan van Rooyen has named Morgan Naude and flanker Hanru Sirgel in his starting XV ahead of their Sunday afternoon clash against Benetton Rugby in Round 3 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

Sirgel enjoys his first start in the red colours of the Emirates Lions, while Naude gets an opportunity at loosehead prop after an impactful stint off the bench last week in a closely fought contest against Edinburgh.

Reflecting on the Edinburgh match, defence coach Jaque Fourie believes while chances were created by his troops, it’s often teams that make the most of those opportunities who end up victorious on the day.

“Last week was all about small margins. If you go and look at last week’s game against Edinburgh, we had our chances and the ones they had they capitalized. There are minor things we can fix but at the same time, we take quite a bit of positives out of that as you don’t just go to Edinburgh and beat them there.”

Fourie on Benetton:

“We had a look at Benetton against Munster last weekend. They are team that has evolved their playing style in that they don’t play with the ball too much, instead they play in the right areas of the field. Conditions wise, we’ll be playing on a normal pitch which means it could be slippery and wet. It’s going to be a physical, arm wrestle type of game for 80 minutes and the team that uses their chances will come out on top.”

A new addition to the match 23 is former Blitzbok star JC Pretorius. Powerhouse Ruan Venter sits this one out while he nurses a toe injury he suffered against the Scots last Saturday.

Emirates Lions Match 23

1.           Morgan Naude

2.           PJ Botha

3.           Ruan Dreyer

4.           Ruben Schoeman

5.           Darrien-Lane Landsberg

6.           Hanru Sirgel

7.           Emmanuel Tsituka

8.           Francke Horn

9.           Sanele Nohamba

10.         Jordan Hendrikse

11.         Edwill van der Merwe

12.         Marius Louw (c)

13.         Henco van Wyk

14.         Richard Kriel

15.         Quan Horn

Replacements

16.         Jaco Visagie

17.         Corne Fourie

18.         Asenathi Ntlabakanye

19.         Willem Alberts

20.         JC Pretorius

21.         Morne van den Berg

22.         Rynardt Jonker

23.         Andries Coetzee

Benetton v Emirates Lions

Stadio Monigo, Treviso – KO 13.30 IRE & UK / 14.30 ITA / 15.30 SA

Referee: Peter Martin (IRFU, league debut)

AR 1:  Frank Murphy (IRFU) AR 2: Oisin Quinn (IRFU)

TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)

Live on: Sky Italia, Viaplay, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv

Benetton:  Rhyno Smith, Edoardo Padovani, Malakai Fekitoa, Filippo Drago, Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz, Andy Uren, Thomas Gallo, Giacomo Nicotera, Simone Ferrari, Edoardo Iachizzi, Eli Snyman (CAPT), Alessandro Izekor, Sebastian Negri, Lorenzo Cannone

Replacements: Gianmarco Lucchesi, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosué Zilocchi, Niccolò Cannone, Michele Lamaro, Alessandro Garbisi, Jacob Umaga, Marco Zanon

Benetton head coach Marco Bortolami: “We know that against Lions will be a different game compared to Munster because they play completely different. We all know the qualities of their players, it will be a great challenge one vs one”

Emirates Lions: Quan Horn, Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw (CAPT), Edwill van der Merwe, Jordan Hendrikse, Sanele Nohamba, Morgan Naude, PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer, Ruben Schoeman, Darrien-Lane Landsberg, Hanru Sirgel, Emmanuel Tsituka, Francke Horn

Replacements :  Jaco Visagie, Corne Fourie, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Willem Alberts, JC Pretorius, Morne van den Berg, Rynardt Jonker, Andries Coetzee

Emirates Lions defence coach Jaque Fourie said:  ““We had a look at Benetton against Munster last weekend. They are team that has evolved their playing style in that they don’t play with the ball too much, instead they play in the right areas of the field. Conditions wise, we’ll be playing on a normal pitch which means it could be slippery and wet. It’s going to be a physical, arm wrestle type of game for 80 minutes and the team that uses their chances will come out on top.”