Milestone for Mapoe as Lions name team for Brumbies duel

Cape Tow - Lions coach Swys de Bruin has named his team for Saturday's Super Rugby encounter against the Brumbies in Canberra.

Centre Lionel Mapoe will celebrate a milestone when he plays his 100th Super Rugby match for the Lions. Mapoe boast 116 Super Rugby caps altogether, having also played for the Bulls and Cheetahs.

Hooker Malcolm Marx will lead an experienced Lions side with seven players boasting 60 Super Rugby caps or more in the starting XV.

The most experienced player in the side is flyhalf Elton Jantjies, who has racked up an impressive 126 Super Rugby caps (including 13 Super Rugby matches for the Stormers) since joining the franchise in 2011.

He is followed by Andries Coetzee (86), Nic Groom (70), Stephan Lewies (69), Ruan Combrinck (68) and Marx (61), while Ross Cronje adds 81 caps from the bench.

The Lions also picked Aphiwe Dyantyi on the wing rather than at centre as was the case last weekend, and Hacjivah Dayimani starts at No 8 having been a backline replacement in the previous round against the Sharks, in a match in which the Johannesburg side were humiliated 42-5 at home.

Saturday's clash at GIO Stadium is scheduled for 11:45.

Teams:

Brumbies

15 Tom Banks, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Tom Wright, 11 Toni Pulu, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Joe Powell, 8 Lachlan McCaffrey, 7 Tom Cusack, 6 Pete Samu, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Rory Arnold, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Folau Fainga'a, 1 Scott Sio

Substitutes: 16 Josh Mann-Rea, 17 James Slipper, 18 Leslie Leulua'iali'i-Makin, 19 Darcy Swain, 20 Jahrome Brown, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 Irae Simone, 23 Andy Muirhead

Lions

15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Franco Naude, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Stephan Lewies, 6 Cyle Brink, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Rhyno Herbst, 3 Johannes Jonker, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Nathan McBeth

Substitutes: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Ross Cronje, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Sylvian Mahuza

@13LionelMapoe14 is celebrating ?? Vodacom Super Rugby caps this weekend when the @emirates Lions take the field against the Brumbies in Canberra on Sat. Mapoe, who has 116 SR caps in total (played for Free State & Bulls) has scored 32 Super Rugby tries in total.#LionsPride pic.twitter.com/H1HU8YHpCs

— Emirates Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) April 11, 2019