Lions ready to absorb pressure from 'Canes

Johannesburg - Lions coach Johan Ackermann is expecting the Hurricanes to put severe pressure on his players during Saturday’s Super Rugby semi-final at Ellis Park.

Both teams play an attacking brand of rugby and Ackermann expects more of the same on Saturday.

“They’re the defending champions. They had a great win against the Crusaders, beat the Brumbies away from home. They have quality and I believe they’re going to come out and put a lot of pressure on us,” Ackermann said after naming his team on Thursday.

“If you look at the tries scored from both sides... both play an exciting game. They’ve got lot of quality players that they utilise at the back. But for us it will be important to keep up with the intensity.”

Ackermann was also happy to name an unchanged 23-man line-up for the semi-finals.

“We’re happy to have this continuity. We debated (the selection of) a few players. Obviously there was some decision about where the game will go and what we need. But at the end of the day, we felt it was just reward to the guys who went through these last few games - as combinations and as a unit.”

Saturday’s clash is scheduled for 14:30.

Teams:

Lions

15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen

Substitutes: 16 Akker vd Merwe, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 23 Sylvian Mahuza

Hurricanes

15 Jordie Barrett, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Vince Aso, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Wes Goosen, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Brad Shields, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Vaea Fifita, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Mark Abbott, 3 Jeff To'omaga-Allen, 2 Dane Coles (captain), 1 Ben May

Substitutes: 16 Ricky Riccitelli, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Loni Uhila, 19 Reed Prinsep, 20 Callum Gibbins, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Otere Black, 23 Julian Savea