Mostert takes over captain’s armband ahead of Lions' clash vs Sunwolves

His rallying call “come boys‚ follow me‚” has helped earn Franco Mostert the Lions’ captain’s armband for Saturday’s clash against the Sunwolves.

Mostert takes over in the absence of the injured Warren Whiteley‚ who has been sidelined for a month with a knee injury.

“It was an easy decision.

"He’s one of those guys who says ‘kom boys‚ volg my’‚“ said Lions coach Swys de Bruin in explaining his decision to go for Mostert.

The lock cracked the nod ahead of regular vice captain Elton Jantjies.

“You will see‚ he’s the type of guy that leads by example‚” De Bruin added.

Mostert was all smiles on Thursday.

“I don’t talk a lot. I would much rather lead by example‚” he said about his mantra.

Apart from slipping into a leadership role Mostert will revert to the side of the scrum in the No7 jersey.

It was a position he occupied with devastating effect against the Bulls at Loftus in the second match of their campaign.

Such was his impact that day that the members of the Lions’ brains trust have kept their options open in the way they deploy their strapping utility forward.

You sense Mostert still has to entirely warm to the idea.

“The coach and I had knocked heads about it but I’m happy to play five or seven.”

“Obviously I like playing five‚” he said before weighing up the pro’s and cons of playing blindside flank.

“The most irritating part is having to defend the blindside at rucks the whole time.

"The nice thing about it is that you will see more ball and it is an opportunity to be seen on TV more‚” he quipped with an even broader smile.

The Lions’ rotational policy was a major driver in the way De Bruin assembled his team.

Dylan Smith and Jacobie Adriaanse earn starts in the front row‚ Lourens Erasmus and Marvin Orie at lock‚ while Kwagga Smith and Len Massyn get the nod in the backrow.

Interestingly‚ there is no Hacjivah Dayimani.

De Bruin likened Massyn to a cross between Pedrie Wannenburg and Whiteley.

Among the backs Harold Vorster is restored to the No12 jersey‚ while Rohan Janse van Rensburg moves to right wing.

De Bruin made it clear that the team’s poor performance against the Blues last week did not impact this week’s selections.

If anything‚ the coach has been compelled to factor next week’s trip to Buenos Aires in his deliberations.

On their two previous trips to Argentina the Lions‚ with a weakened side‚ have come up short.

Defeat at home last weekend means they now have less margin for error.

The Lions team is:

Andries Coetzee; Rohan Janse van Rensburg‚ Lionel Mapoe‚ Harold Vorster‚ Aphiwe Dyantyi; Elton Jantjies‚ Ross Cronje; Len Massyn‚ Franco Mostert‚ Kwagga Smith; Marvin Orie‚ Lourens Erasmus; Jacobie Adriaanse‚ Malcolm Marx‚ Dylan Smith.

Substitutes:

Robbie Coetzee‚ Sti Sithole‚ Johannes Jonker‚ Robert Kruger‚ Marnus Schoeman; Marco Jansen Vuren‚ Howard Mnisi‚ Shaun Reynolds.