Following last weekend\u2019s opening fixture in this new competition, which the Lions won 24-7 over their Sharks counterparts in Durban, the KwaZulu-Natalians have a second home game when they welcome the Stormers to the east coast.<\/p>\n
This Friday afternoon clash, which will start 15h30 at Hollywoodbets Stadium, is a curtain-raiser for the Hollywoodbets Sharks\u2019 Vodacom URC clash against Cardiff (19h00 kick-off).<\/p>\n
Then, at 18h00, the action moves to Limpopo, where the Vodacom Bulls XV will make their first appearance when they host the Lions XV in a Jukskei Derby at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.<\/p>\n
The Lions will be keen to build on their opening round victory in their second successive encounter on the road. They led 19-0 at the break in Durban and finished with a bonus-point win in Durban \u2013 where Keagan Smith scored a first-half hat-trick of tries \u2013 to start the competition on a high note.<\/p>\n
For the Bulls, this match in Polokwane against their Joburg rivals gives them also the opportunity to broaden their franchise and brand footprint in Limpopo.<\/p>\n
Apart from senior players who need game time or those on the fringe of Vodacom URC selection, the four squads also feature numerous current and former Junior Springboks.<\/p>\n
Match information:<\/p>\n
Hollywoodbets Sharks U23 v DHL Stormers XXIII
Date: Friday, 26 March
Venue: Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 15h30
Referee: Caleb Hibbert<\/p>\n
Vodacom Bulls XV v Lions XV
Date: Friday, 26 March
Venue: Old Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane
Kick-off: 18h00
Referee: Excellent Mnkomo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following last weekend\u2019s opening fixture in this new competition, which the Lions won 24-7 over their Sharks counterparts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-565473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}