Cape Town - Sharks coach Robert du Preez has named his team for Saturday’s Currie Cup clash against the Blue Bulls in Durban on Saturday (18:10 kick-off).
Du Preez has not tinkered with his team too much, making a couple of injury-related changes as well as rotational.
Lukhanyo Am returns to the side after missing last week’s match against the Boland Cavaliers due to injury, replacing Heimar Williams at outside centre where he partners up with Andre Esterhuizen.
In the second change to the backline, Lwazi Mvovo, released from the Springboks, returns to the Sharks side and takes over from S’bura Sithole on the wing. Mvovo was not considered for last week’s clash in Wellington.
Philip van der Walt will move back to No 8 from the flank after the loss of Tera Mtembu who cannot be considered for selection this week after injuring his knee in last week’s match against Boland.
This also means the return of Jean-Luc du Preez to the starting line-up to complete a particularly complementary back three, boasting speed, skill, aggression and experience.
The rotational change last week is enacted again as Franco Marais and Chiliboy Ralepelle swap jerseys at hooker.
Teams:
Sharks
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Inny Radebe, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Keegan Daniel (captain), 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Dale Chadwick
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 John-Hubert Meyer, 18 JC Astle, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Hanco Venter, 21 S'bura Sithole, 22 Rhyno Smith
Blue Bulls
15 Duncan Matthews, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Arno Botha (captain), 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Substitutes: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Martin Dreyer, 18 Nic de Jager, 19 Hanro Liebenberg, 20 Andre Warner, 21 Joshua Stander, 22 Ulrich Beyers