WP brace for 'massive task'

Cape Town - The return of Springboks Gio Aplon and Juan de Jongh could not have come at a better time for Western Province as they look to crack the code that has kept the Lions unbeaten after five rounds of Absa Currie Cup rugby.

Province host the log leaders in Cape Town on Friday night, with a well documented defensive system set to be compared to one that has only recently shown improvement.

Province backline coach Robbie Fleck said this week his players would have to be on the money from the word go due to the impressive all-round game the Lions possess.

"For us it is a massive challenge and we need to get stuck into them from the start," said Fleck.

"We want to put them under pressure and retain ball as well, so for the young guys it is another mammoth task, but one the guys are really looking forward to."

The Lions will hope to prove that they have adopted a winning culture by securing victory at the venue where they failed to score a single point at the same stage last year.

"Ultimately we are not going to control what they (Province) are going to bring," said Lions coach John Mitchell.

"We will look after our own performance as there were some gaps in our last game that we worked hard on correcting.

Teams:

Western Province:
15. Conrad Jantjes, 14. Danie Poolman, 13. Johann Sadie, 12. Tim Whitehead, 11. JJ Engelbrecht, 10. Demetri Catrakilis, 9. Dewaldt Duvenage, 8. Pieter Louw, 7. Siya Kolisi, 6. Nicholas Sean Fenton-Wells, 5. De Kock Steenkamp, 4. Hilton Lobberts, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Deon Fourie (Captain), 1. Steven Kitshoff

Substitutes: 16. Tiaan Liebenberg, 17. Frans Malherbe, 18. Quinn Roux, 19. Nizaam Carr, 20. Nick Groom, 21. Juan de Jongh, 22. Gio Aplon

Golden Lions:
15 Jaco Taute, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach, 11 Michael Killian, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Joshua Strauss (captain), 7 Derick Minnie, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Wikus van Heerden, 3 Patric Cilliers, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg

Substitutes: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse, 18 Michael Rhodes, 19 Warren Whiteley, 20 Rudy Paige, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Jannie Boshoff