Lions vs Western Province Preview & Tips - Province backed in handicap market

The Lions confidence will be dented after their poor performance last week while Province will be full of confidence. The men from Cape Town are tipped to win by 9+ points.

Western Province hold a slender 6-5 lead over their last 10 matches against Lions. They met twice during the recently completed Rainbow Cup where Western Province (featured as the Stormers) won both matches.

The Lions got their 2021 Currie Cup season off to a disappointing start last weekend when they lost 39-10 to the Pumas in Nelspruit. After an inconsistent season, the men from Johannesburg will want to put things right this weekend.

It was a lackluster performance from the Lions. The Pumas dominated possession and territory while their set piece completely overran that of the Lions.

Ivan van Rooyen has made two changes to the side that lost to the Pumas. Ruben Schoeman comes in at lock for the injured Willem Alberts while Ruan Dreyer takes over at tighthead prop from Carlu Sadie.

There are a number of other senior players who are back fit but will likely only feature from next week onwards.

Western Province will be reasonably happy with their start to the 2021 Currie Cup. On Saturday they took advantage of a severely under strength Bulls outfit to win 48-24 in Pretoria.

There remains much to be worked on in the Western Province camp after last week's victory. Their ball retention was poor on occasion while they also conceded four tries.

Tim Swiel comes in at fullback this week with Sergeal Petersen shifting to wing for the injured Sihle Njezula. Godlen Masimla starts at scrumhalf ahead of Paul de Wet.

There are two further changes in the forward pack. Juarno Augustus and Marcel Theunissen start among the loose forwards.