In the biggest change to last week's side, Springbok scrumhalf Morné van den Berg misses out.
Lions boss Ivan van Rooyen has stuck largely to the same side that went down to Benetton last weekend for his team’s round four United Rugby Championship match against Scarlets at Ellis Park on Saturday (1.45pm).
It is the Lions’ first home game of the season, following their three-match tour of Europe. Besides losing last weekend, the Lions also went down to Cardiff and Zebre, to be in second-last place on the points table.
With Springbok scrumhalf Morné van den Berg ruled out of the match because of a hamstring injury, Nico Steyn takes over at No 9, while Eduan Keyter is back on the wing after missing last week’s match because of illness.
Reinhard Nothnagel is makes a welcome return, on the bench, following a lengthy injury absence.
A number of other players weren’t considered because of injury, including PJ Botha, Morgan Naude, Jaco Visagie, Rabz Maxwane and Ruan Delport.
Defensive challenge
Lions assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher was upbeat ahead of the game, praising the energy of the squad despite their challenging tour.
“The energy within the camp is good,” he commented. “We can’t wait for Saturday, it’s great to be back home.”
About the challenge facing his team, the former Springbok added: “We know that it’s going to be a tough challenge on the weekend. Scarlets present a different approach defensively, so from an attack point of view we need to be ready for that.
“Our training this week was focused mainly on simulating the pressure we can expect from the opposition in terms of defense and attack pictures, in order for the players to get a feel of what it will be like come Saturday.”
Lions: Quan Horn, Eduan Keyter, Henco van Wyk, Richard Kriel, Angelo Davids, Chris Smith, Nico Steyn, Francke Horn (capt), Ruan Venter, JC Pretorius, Darrien Landsberg, Etienne Oosthuizen, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Franco Marais, SJ Kotze. Bench: Morne Brandon, RF Schoeman, Conraad van Vuuren, Reinhard Nothnagel, Jarod Cairns, Layton Horn, Lubabalo Dobela, Kelly Mpeku
