Young Lions ready to turn Currie Cup around against Pumas at Ellis Park

Both teams have quite a bit to play for after close losses in the opening rounds of the competition. Lions coach Mziwakhe Nkosi, upon reflection, believes last week's tightly contested fixture against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein yielded quite a few positives ahead of the remainder of the tournament.

"The result was obviously not what we wanted, but there were some great things we took away from it," said Nkosi.

"The Pumas are a very good outfit and we would need to work on our discipline, as that aspect was our undoing last week."

Despite the narrow loss, the Lions mentor is consistent with his theme of grooming the next generation of Lions players.

"You've got to put it into context- to head into the competition with a young team, away from home first up and to walk away with two points isn't a shabby result," Nkosi added.

"There are plenty of positives to go forward with."

In team news, Nkosi has made two changes to his starting group from last week. Junior Springbok Mahle Sithole comes in at hooker for Armand Combrink who suffered a niggle. Another junior international in the form of Thando Biyela joins the back row in place of Renzo du Plessis who drops to the bench. New recruit Asad Moos could make his club debut for the Lions if called upon.

For the Pumas, they will be eager to bounce back from a narrow defeat to the Sharks in Mbombela last week. They squandered many opportunities out wide. This week, lock Willie Engelbrecht leads out the settled team with flyhalf Darnich Visagie set to spark the backline.

Lions - 15 Latica Nela, 14 Keagan Smith, Likhona Finca, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Sam Francis, 9 Zian Cilliers, 8 Morne Venter, 7 Jarod Cairs, 6 Thando Biyela, 5 Ruan Delport (c), 4 Dylan Sjoblom, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Mahle Sithole, 1 Morgan Naude

Replacements: 16 Ruan Welman, 17 Cecil Parsons, 18 Ruan Swart, 19 Marco Ferreira, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Asad Moos, 22 Matthew Coetzee, 23 Exauce Kevani

Pumas - 15 Jaycee Nel, 14 Alfondso Isaacs, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Troy Delport, 11 Dalvron Blood, 10 Darnich Visagie, 9 Thomas Bursey, 8 Marvelous Mashimbyi, 7 Willie Engelbrecht (c), 6 De Wet Marais, 5 JJ Scheepers, 4 Stephan Krugel, 3 Junior Banda, 2 Chyle van Zyl, 1 Etienne Janeke

Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Kudzwai Dube, 18 Bryan le Roux, 19 Andre Goedhals, 20 Thabo Ndimande, 21 Conor van Eeden, 22 Nevaldo Fleurs, 23 Velentino Wellman

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