Francke Horn returns to lead Lions against Zebre in URC clash

The Lions have been boosted by the return of captain Francke Horn for Sunday’s United Rugby Championship clash against Zebre.

The inspirational No. 8 is one of six changes to the Lions’ starting line-up following their 33-20 defeat to Cardiff in the opening round of the new URC season.

Chris Smith has completed his return-to-play protocols and starts at flyhalf ahead of Lubabalo Dobela, who wore the No 10 jersey against Cardiff.

Elsewhere in the backline, Eduan Keyter makes his URC debut for the Lions after his move from Durban.

In the pack, RF Schoeman comes in at tighthead for Springbok Asenathi Ntlabakanye, who drops to the bench. Lock Etienne Oosthuizen also returns to the side and will partner Ruan Delport in the second row.

Loose forward Renzo du Plessis gets the nod ahead of Jarod Cairns in the No. 6 jersey, joining Horn and Ruan Venter in the loose trio.

Dobela is named among the replacements alongside Junior Springbok scrum-half Haashim Pead, who is expected to make an impact in the second half when the game opens up.

Lions forwards coach Barend Pieterse warned that Zebre will pose a significant challenge, especially in Parma, after the Italians stunned Edinburgh 31-28 in their opening match last weekend.

“Zebre are a team that have improved so much over the past few years. It’s not just about guts and glory anymore. They’ve got a good system and good coaches,” Pieterse said this week.

“You can see they’re well coached. Even though Edinburgh weren’t that good against them, Zebre put them under a lot of pressure. We can never underestimate a team like Zebre.”

Pieterse added that a big focus this week has been on the set-piece platform and tightening up their defence.

“We were happy with our own set-piece, but in these conditions it’s always going to be difficult. Maybe here and there you’re going to give away a penalty at the scrum, but the big area where we weren’t satisfied at all was in defence.

“That was a major talking point for us this week. It’s an area we need to improve, because all the overseas teams are very, very strong there.

“They’ve got good attackers and good backlines, and they love to run. We can’t make the game too loose for them, because if they get the ball in space, they’ll be very dangerous.”

Lions team to face Zebre

15 Quan Horn, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Renzo du Plessis, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 RF Schoeman, 2 Franco Marais, 1 SJ Kotze.

Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Heiko Pohlmann, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Haashim Pead, 22 Lubabalo Dobela, 23 Rynhardt Jonker.