Chris Smith and Francke Horn are among the players set to make a return to action.
The Lions have received a significant boost ahead of their United Rugby Championship (URC) rumble against Zebre in Parma on Sunday afternoon, with a number of players returning from injury and available for selection.
Former Bulls flyhalf Chris Smith, who has made a strong start to his Lions career with some solid performances in the Currie Cup, is back after being concussed in their final loss against Griquas which ruled him out of their 33-20 defeat to Cardiff in their opening URC game of the season last weekend.
Big No 8 Francke Horn is another major player in line to return, although it hasn’t been decided yet if he will feature against Zebre or next week against Benetton.
Lions assistant coach Jaque Fourie explained the injury situation in a press conference on Tuesday, admitting they were happy to have some important players back.
Injury returns
“It’s still a long season. We’ve had a lot of big injuries if you look at our props and hookers. But Francke Horn is fit again, so we’re probably looking at getting him in this weekend or next weekend,” said Fourie.
“Chris is also back. He’s been very important for us at 10. You need someone to drive your team to play in the right areas, so he’s looking good for this weekend again.
“(Eduan) Keyter is also available to play, hopefully we can give him a run. So there are a few guys coming back at the right time so we want to get them on the field.”
The injury boost comes at the perfect time as the Lions are smarting after a dismal start to their URC season against Cardiff, where they were largely outplayed by a team they should be beating, especially if they want to make the URC playoffs.
They will thus hope the reinforcements give them a big leg up, against a fired up Zebre outfit who stunned Scottish giants Edinburgh 31-28 in their season opener, and will be targeting another big win over the struggling Highveld outfit.
