Lions v Crusaders
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<p><strong><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Crusaders</span></span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Wyatt Crockett 2. Codie Taylor 3. Owen Franks 4. Luke Romano 5. Scott Barrett 6. Jimmy Tupou 7. Matt Todd 8. Kieran Read (C)</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">9. Andy Ellis 10. Richie Mo’unga 11. Nemani Nadolo 12. Ryan Crotty 13. Kieron Fonotia 14. Johnny McNicholl 15. David Havili</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Reserves</em></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">16. Ben Funnell 17. Joe Moody 18. Mike Alaalatoa 19. Sam Whitelock 20. Jordan Taufua 21. Mitchell Drummond 22. Ben Volavola 23. Sean Wainui</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Some players have been rotated (not due to injury) and </span></span>5/3 forwards/backs split on the bench (last week: 6/2). Sean Wainui comes into the 23, Tim Boys loses his spot on the bench.</p> -
<div><strong>Lions: </strong>15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies/Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley ©, 7 Warwick Tecklenburg, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira/Lourens Erasmus, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Dylan Smith.</div>
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<div><strong>Replacements:</strong> 16 Armand van der Merwe, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Ackermann, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Dillon Smit, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg</div>
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<div>Jantjies to pass a late fitness test and Ackers can't decide between Andries or Lourens, IMO I would start with Lourens as he has the X-factor the Lions need for this match.</div> -
<p>Jimmy Tupou getting a rare start at 6 - seems he's finally graduated to the forefront of Toddy's mind.</p>
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<p>A bit of cavalry on the bench - especially in the forwards with Moody, Whitelock and Taufua - but, I'm also pretty happy to see Wainui back and hopefully we'll be able to give him 20 minutes for Fonotia. </p>
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<p>Would be great if we can somehow grab a second win in Jaapieland and hopefully head for home with a few more of our backs heading toward full fitness.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="SammyC" data-cid="568855" data-time="1459475632">
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<p>Israel Dagg back from injury this week too, playing for University on Saturday</p>
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<p>Good to hear! That has been a long road to recovery for Dagg. Got injured on 24 September last year, so more than 6 months ago. Hope they can keep him in one piece during club rugby.</p> -
<p>Yes very good news for the Crusaders. If Dagg can stay fit he has arguably the longest general kicking game in NZ. This will take pressure off Mo'unga and Ellis in general play. The Crusaders have been executing a territory based gameplan anyway, and he will only strengthen this.</p>
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<p>This is the same ref that reduced the Crusaders to 12 men last year for some time. He just loves handing out penalties and cards, preferably against the visiting teams. He's the guy that wants to put his stamp on everything, and not in a good way.</p>
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Mcnichol having a great game<br><br><br>
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