The Lions made no secret about their intension of dominating the game up front and they named JP Smith, Jaco Visagie and Carlü Sadie as their starting front-row.

The Griquas in their turn once again opted from continuity, but have less experienced props in Kudzwai Dube and Janu Botha.

The Griquas coach, Pieter Bergh, told OFM Sport that he believes his players will do well in the scrum.

“They will pose a massive challenge for us in the setpiece and especially at scrum time,” said Bergh who confident of his side’s abilities in the scrum.

“Then they have a guy like Jannie du Plessis coming off the bench, so they will definitely target our scrum.

“They will look to get energy from their scrum and try to put use under pressure to try and force penalties.

“We will have to handle it and that will probably be our biggest scrum challenge of the year.

“We have done well in the scrum so far this year and we are confident.”

Thursday afternoon’s match at Wits will kick-off at 15:00.

Lions - 15 Tiaan Swanepoel, 14 Boldwin Hansen, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 James Mollentze, 11 Zeilinga Strydom, 10 Luke Rossouw, 9 Andre Warner (captain), 8 Jarod Cairns, 7 Sibusiso Sangweni, 6 Sasko Ndlovu, 5 Cal Smid, 4 Junior White, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 JP Smith.

Replacements - 16 Darnell Osuagwu, 17 Banele Mthenjane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Henk Gouws, 20 Lindo Ncusane, 21 Jurich Claasens, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 Ngia Selengbe. 

Griquas - 15 Rynhardt Jonker, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Zander du Plessis, 11 Luther Obi, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Siba Qoma, 7 Hanru Sirgel, 6 Niel Otto (captain), 5 Derik Pretorius, 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Simon Westraadt, 1 Kudzwai Dube.

Replacements - 16 Gustav du Randt, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Andries Schutte, 19 Johan Retief, 20 Luyolo Dapula, 21 Johan Mulder, 22 Chris Hollis, 23 Ashlon Davids.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport