Bulls v Lions - Teams and Predictions

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PREVIEW: It will be the battle of the behemoths when the Bulls host the Lions in the rescheduled Round Nine United Rugby Championship match at Loftus on Saturday.

It will be a mouthwatering affair that will see the best of the best in the forward battle and predicting a winner is not easy.

While the sun took a peek out of the clouds on Friday, rain is still on the cards for 60% of Saturday, which also affects the game plans on both sides.

The Bulls side heads into this encounter following their shock loss to the Sharks last weekend, while the Lions' tails are up after getting one over the Stormers.

But the Bulls are not without confidence, sitting quite pretty in the third spot on the log while the Lions are desperate for a win to move up on the standings.

For the Bulls, Springbok forward Gerhard Steenekamp starts alongside Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw.

Behind them, Cobus Wiese returns to full match fitness and slots in at lock alongside fellow Springbok alignment camp invitee JF van Heerden.

Embrose Papier and Willie le Roux have another bite at the halfback combination cherry with World Cup-winning winger Canan Moodie moving to the left wing and Sebastian de Klerk coming into the fold on the right-hand side of the park.

Squaring off against Steenekamp in the scrums will be Lions giant Asenathi Ntlabakanye, who has proved that his 153kg frame is no deterrent for his work rate.

Ntlabakanye is a huge unit but this does not prevent him from going full flight with ball-in-hand. While he loves running direct lines, his scrummaging is solid, too, and he is a big part of the strong Lions setpiece.

Other exciting duels to look forward to include David Kriel against Henco van Wyk, Embrose Papier versus Morné van den Berg at scrumhalf, and flankers Reinhardt Ludwig and Ruan Venter.

White knows what his side is in for.

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"I'm expecting exactly from them what we get every time we play them. They lift their game against us. A lot of them live in this town.

"A lot of them have been here as juniors. I expect them to want to prove that they still could have been at the Bulls.

"One thing I have found with the Lions, is generally those players have played well against us," White told a media briefing on Friday.

"They are difficult to beat, a lot of them have been tapped on the shoulder into the alignment camp which I am sure is going to boost them as well.

"Willie [le Roux] is at No. 10 again. It is one thing I've learned in rugby. You can't keep changing your 10," White said, explaining his team selection thought process.

"It is the third week he will play in that position with the same No. 9. So I think it can only be better.

"The longer I leave them together - they are both good players and I also don't want to be unfair to Willie and keep on changing the nines.

"He is just getting to understand - he hasn't played 10 for a while, I want to give him the confidence that he's got the same nine looking after him.

"I think they are going to kick more than they usually kick."

For the Lions Jarod Cairns joins the back row alongside captain Francke Horn and Springbok Ruan Venter in the place of JC Pretorius.

The front-row replacements feature Morgan Naude and Conrad van Vuuren, with Siba Qoma also making a return.

Recently announced Springbok Alignment Camp attendees Renzo du Plessis and Nico Steyn could also feature come Saturday.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the week, Ntlabakanye gave his thoughts on what his side can expect from the Bulls.

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"The Bulls are still going to try and use their scrum to get an advantage over the Lions.

"Obviously, they've worked on a few things. I think if I get too technical, a lot of people here will get confused. So I think with them, as a unit, I think they operate very well," he explained.

"I think if you're on the outside, you won't see the small things they do for the pack to be moving forward. So as a pack, we just have to nullify that and do our system and do what we're good at. Hopefully, we can match each other.

"We are under no illusion that we know what Loftus means to them and it's their own ground. And we've played it a couple of times where it's a tough place to go play, regardless of the results of when they played against the Sharks. Our coach said they want to come out and rectify the results against us.

"We have to be at our best and also just play our right game. That's what we did this weekend and we need to do better.

"Look, I think if you play against the Bulls and as a forward pack you don't pitch up, it's going to be hard. Especially if it's going to be raining until Saturday. So be well aware of what's coming," the big man commented.

"And our prep has been very good the last two days. We needed to patch up our set-piece as well. We know it's a strong point.

"So it's also our strong point as well. So we're proud of ourselves for that. So it's something we've been focusing on the past two days.

"I think you're testing yourself against probably the best scrummaging pack in the competition. But they've been good this season. So it's a good challenge to test yourself against guys who have played at the highest level. So yeah, looking forward to it."

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Prediction:
@Rugby365: Bulls by four points

Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 David Kriel, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Willie le Roux, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Mpilo Gumede, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig (captain), 6 Marco van Staden, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Keagan Johannes, 23 Sergeal Petersen.

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Renzo du Plessis, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Manuel Rass.

Date: Saturday, February 22
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 14.00 (12.00 GMT)
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (South Africa), Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Egon Seconds (South Africa)