Cape Town - Lions coach Swys de Bruin is excited at the prospect of giving young flyhalf Gianni Lombard 80 minutes of rugby against the Chiefs in Hamilton on Friday.
Lombard has been picked to start in the No 10 jersey, with Springbok Elton Jantjies moved to the bench.
De Bruin told Netwerk24 that he plans to give Lombard a full game at pivot.
"We’ll use Elton as substitute at centre because Gianni is looking good at flyhalf. There were positive aspects on attack against the Brumbies and we want to build on that," De Bruin said.
Lombard came on in the 55th minute of last weekend’s 31-20 loss in Canberra where he impressed his coach.
The 21-year-old is a former Junior Springbok star and joined the Lions after school, having excelled at Paarl Boys’ High and for Western Province’s Craven Week team.
Meanwhile, the Lions were forced into late changes on Wednesday when wing Courtnall Skosan flew back to South Africa to be with his ill father.
Tyler Green was flown over to New Zealand as a replacement for Skosan in the squad, while De Bruin had to make a number of positional shifts as a result of Skosan's unavailability.
Sylvian Mahuza moves from fullback to right wing to replace Skosan while Andries Coetzee, who was due to start on the bench, will now be back in the No 15 jersey.
Ruan Combrinck, meanwhile, will take Coetzee's place on the bench.
Friday’s clash is scheduled for 09:35 (SA time).
Teams:
Chiefs
15 Jack Debreczeni, 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Alex Nankivell, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Ataata Moeakiola, 10 Marty McKenzie, 9 Brad Weber (captain), 8 Taleni Seu, 7 Lachlan Boshier, 6 Luke Jacobson, 5 Mitchell Brown, 4 Tyler Ardron, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Liam Polwart, 1 Angus Ta'avao
Substitutes: 16 Samisoni Taukei'aho, 17 Atu Moli, 18 Sosefo Kautai, 19 Jesse Parete, 20 Pita Gus Sowakula, 21 Jonathan Taumateine, 22 Tumua Manu, 23 Shaun Stevenson
Lions
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Franco Naude, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Warren Whiteley (captain), 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Stephan Lewies, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Sti Sithole
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Frans Van Wyk, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Ruan Combrinck
