Blues coach Pat Lam has made six changes to his team to face the Lions with Luke McAlister coming in for Stephen Brett who has been dropped to the bench.
Lam kept his team unchanged for the Sharks last week after the Blues beat the Crusaders in the opening round.
Lam has opted to bench All Blacks Keven Mealamu, Anthony Boric and Daniel Braid, and give Tom McCartney, Kurtis Haiu and Luke Braid their first starts of the season.
Peter Saili will also make his first appearance after replacing Chris Lowrey at number 8.
Jerome Kaino will captain the side in Mealamu’s absence.
In the backs, Luke McAlister has been given the nod at first five-eighths ahead of Stephen Brett while Sherwin Stowers has been rewarded for his performances off the bench with his first start for the Blues in place of Rene Ranger.
With altitude expected to play a significant factor in the match, Lam has named a solid reserves list featuring four All Blacks, all of whom are expected to provide a big impact coming off the bench.
Blues: Isaia Toeava, Joe Rokocoko, Jared Payne, Benson Stanley, Sherwin Stowers, Luke McAlister, Alby Mathewson, Peter Saili, Luke Braid, Jerome Kaino (capt), Ali Williams, Kurtis Haiu, John Afoa, Tom McCartney, Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: Keven Mealamu, Charlie Faumuina, Anthony Boric, Daniel Braid, Toby Morland, Stephen Brett, Rene Ranger
Lions by 16 with a bonus point?
Blues pointless? In more ways than one!
Sh1t gotta lay off the Captain before sunset!
GBS I hate this mobile k@k. Sponsor me a HP mini so I can make quick, decisive and meaningful contributions from places I frequent from time to time!
2@ Scrumdown:
One can buy a very useful 15.6″ Notebook, Core 2 Duo with DVD-Writer, enough Ram and with Windows 7 for about R 3 200.00…. well I can sell one for that, brand new…
Talk to me…
Forget the smaller kakkas with the 10.1″ screens…. it is not for eyes our age…. hehehe
They must rotate their players at some stage, they would have gone by last years results and looked at this year. Doesn’t make good reading….almost wooden spoonists last year and none from two this year. So yes of course they will rotate now.
I meant ti doesn’t make good reading for the Lions.
@ 4man:4 Well they might just be onto something here. Blues have played two tough games against Saders and Sharks. Have travelled from NZ as well, played in harsh conditions in the humidity. So for altitude they might want fresh legs. Never thought of that. Cause those Lions gonna run at em all night long.
Still think Lions by a few.
@ Puma:
Well….lets hope they get it right this time. Jantjies is not as good a distributor as Lambie and the Blues are very tough around the scrums and also chop us for pace on the wings. I dont know who else they play, but they will have targetted for one win at least on the road….maybe Free State.
@ 4man:7 – Yeah, just thinking Lions will be desperate for a win here. They should have been 2 up had they had a kicker. Just thinking of the altitude factor. Though if the players have been rotated that could help. Also played at night in Joburg, so helps a bit too.
Player for player, Blues are far better than Lions. So were Bulls far better, but just scrapped a win and Stormers. So looking at that as well.
This is the last game for Blues on SA shores. They leave after Friday.
@ Puma:
cheers
Sorry, in and out, busy with other stuff too.
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