Lions desperate for win

Johannesburg - The Lions will be looking to turn back the clock to 2007 when they finish their Australasian Super Rugby tour in Perth against the Force on Saturday.

It will also be the team from Johannesburg’s final chance to record their first win Down Under since May 2011, when they beat the Highlanders by 26-22 in Dunedin.

Their last victory in Perth was in round four in 2007, when they snuck through by 25-24 thanks to a last-minute penalty by former Springbok flyhalf Andre Pretorius.

Only one player from that day will be in action again this weekend - Force captain Matt Hodgson.

Two Lions players who played in that match are still around, but Franco van der Merwe is currently injured and Willie Wepener was not selected to play this week.

The Force have returned home from South Africa this week, where they beat the Cheetahs and lost to the Stormers.

They can stretch their winning run over the Lions to six on Saturday as they last lost to the Johannesburg-based team in 2007.

In 2009, the Force won comfortably at home against the Lions, but in 2012 they scored a late try to seal a 17-11 win at NIB Stadium.

Teams:

Force:
15. Jayden Hayward, 14. Dane Haylett-Petty, 13. Chris Tuatara-Morrison, 12. Luke Burton, 11. Nick Cummins, 10. Sias Ebersohn, 9. Ian Prior, 8.  Ben McCalman, 7. Matt Hodgson (captain), 6. Angus Cottrell, 5.  Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4. Sam Wykes, 3. Kieran Longbottom, 2. Nathan Charles, 1. Pek Cowan

Substitutes: 16. Heath Tessmann, 17. Tetera Faulkner, 18. Ollie Hoskins, 19. Adam Coleman, 20. Brynard Stander, 21. Justin Turner, 22. Zack Holmes, 23. Patrick Dellit

Lions:
15. Coenie van Wyk, 14. JW Jonker, 13. Deon van Rensburg, 12. Alwyn Hollenbach, 11. Anthony Volmink, 10. Marnitz Boshoff, 9. Ross Cronjé, 8. Warren Whiteley (captain), 7. Warwick Tecklenburg , 6. Jaco Kriel, 5. Franco Mostert, 4. Rudi Mathee, 3. Ruan Dreyer, 2. Armand van der Merwe, 1. Corné Fourie
 
Substitutes: 16. Robbie Coetzee,17. Jacques van Rooyen, 18. Julian Redelinghuys, 19. Willie Britz, 20. Stephan de Wit, 21. Faf de Klerk, 22. Elton Jantjies, 23. Stefan Watermeyer