Mnisi fit to lead Lions after horrific knee injury

Johannesburg - Lions centre Howard Mnisi is back after spending the entire 2017 season sidelined with injury.

Mnisi suffered a horrific knee injury in the Lions’ Super Rugby opener against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last year.

The midfielder suffered multiple ligament injuries, including his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).

He went under the knife and missed the rest of the season.

However, the 28-year-old has since recovered and is included in the Lions’ starting team for Saturday’s warm-up match against a Blue Bulls XV at Ellis Park.

He was also handed the captain’s armband for the match against what is a second-string Bulls outfit.

The match kicks off at 15:00 on Saturday.

Teams:

Lions

15 Gianni Lombard, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Howard Mnisi (captain), 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Ashlon Davids, 9 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 PJ Steenkamp, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Corne Fourie, 1 Sti Sithole

Substitutes: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Cohen Kiewiet, 18 Jo-Hanko de Villiers, 19 James Venter, 20 Len Massyn, 21 Christiaan Meyer, 22 Shaun Reynolds, 23 Louritz van der Schyff, 24 Wandisile Simelane

Blue Bulls XV

15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Irvin Ali, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Heino Bezuidenhout, 11 Andell Loubser, 10 Tony Jantjies, 9 Ginter Smuts, 8 Boom Prinsloo (captain), 7 Rickert Korff, 6 Shaun Adendorff, 5 Abongile Nonkontwana, 4  Ewan Coetzee, 3 Matthys Basson, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Dewald Maritz

Substitutes: 16 Nqoba Mxoli, 17 John-Roy Jenkinson, 18 Simphiwe Matanzima, 19 Thomas Meyer, 20 Pieter Diergaardt, 21 Adre Smit, 22 Oderich Mouton, 23 Vaughen Isaacs, 24 Lian du Toit, 25 Garrick Matthews, 26 Jerome Bossr, 27 Christiaan Strydom, 28 Earll Douwrie, 29 Gareth Heidtmann