The Sharks team for this Friday’s match against the Cheetahs has been announced with a few changes in both the backline and forward pack.Both Gerhard Mostert and Johann Muller have been ruled out of the match, with Alistair Hargreaves coming into the 5 jersey and Willem Alberts on the bench covering looseforward and lock. Keegan Daniel drops to the bench as Jacques Botes moves into the starting line-up. There is a front row shuffle with Bismarck du Plessis making way for his older brother, Jannie, and John Smit moving into the hooking berth.
In the backs, Ruan Pienaar slots in at flyhalf with Monty Dumond moving onto the bench. Adi Jacobs starts at 12, with Dries Strauss moving onto the bench. Charl McLeod also moves onto the bench to cover scrumhalf.
Sharks team to face Cheetahs:
1. Tendai Mtawarira
2. John Smit (captain)
3. Jannie du Plessis
4. Steven Sykes
5. Alistair Hargreaves
6. Jacques Botes
7. Jean Deysel
8. Ryan Kankowski
9. Rory Kockott
10. Ruan Pienaar
11. JP Pietersen
12. Adi Jacobs
13. Waylon Murray
14. Odwa Ndungane
15. Stefan Terblanche
Replacements:
16. Bismarck du Plessis
17. Deon Carstens
18. Willem Alberts
19. Keegan Daniel
20. Charl McLeod
21. Monty Dumond
22. Andries Strauss
Tweet
Smit at 2!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS
didn’t get all the changes we wanted, but Smit at 2 and Pines at 10 are a bloody good start. We’ll take this one
whoop whoop!
still no swannie
make that call, rob, maybe try an sms 
wow….what do you know?
Sharks will win….watch the scrums improve by 50%.
Go sharks
@grant10 (Comment 5) : I knew you’d be psyched to see that move….can imagine you dancing in the streets of Cape Town…
does look good, im thinking lambie on the bench would be better than dumond,cant wait for ludick to be fit
Wow this looks a lot better! Roll on Friday!!!!
@robdylan (Comment 2) : @war1 (Comment 4) : Yeah, come on Rob, where is the boy, send him that sms…pleaseeeeeeee…
@grant10 (Comment 5) : the sharks never cease to amaze, do they?
well, at least its NOT boring being a sharks fan 
@FireTheLooser (Comment 6) : erm you sure it`s not me you seeing
@Original Pierre (Comment 8) : Now we can make superbru predictions….
bismarck got dropped
@Original Pierre (Comment 11) : Hehehehe, true…put the clip on youtube though…want a good laugh at silly dancing…
@Megatron (Comment 13) : rotated
Bismarck dropped and Adi at 12. Like it
@rhineshark (Comment 16) : Can you imagine the tantrum Bissie is throwing right now?
The only thing im not happy with is willem covering lock, i feel he is not tall enough, would have liked to see mike rhodes in the 18 jersey with willem in the 19 jersey in place of keegs
I don’t get Adi at 12, I’d rather want him at 13, but lets hope he proves me wrong. Besides with Ruan back anyone at 12 will be good.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 17) : or maybe he is not.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 12) : Nah still some teams I`m waiting for. Plus I`ll be honest, I don`t have a clue which way to go with Blues and Highlanders yet
what if jannie gets smashed by wian du preez?
@war1 (Comment 18) : I’d also rather have seen Rhodes covering lock…damn they messing that boy around…if we loose him it will be a great loss
i spoke to bissie on saturday, and seemed down after what happened, but i must say hes a pleasent oke, very friendly
@Letgo (Comment 19) : would you want adi covering meyer bosman or mapoe?
Pleased with the team, only sorry that Muller and Mostert are injured.
Think our front row will be stronger with John at hooker. Pleased to see Ruan at FH. Now would have liked to see Mvovo instead of Odwa and where is Swannie? Is he still injured?
@Original Pierre (Comment 21) : the gordon hunter memorial trophy, gonna be a good game, lots of passion from both sides, i hope
Must say pleased to see Bismarck dropped to the bench. He cost us last week. Needs to get some discipline.
@war1 (Comment 20) : Can’t see him being happy playing second fiddle again…I realy can’t
@willa (Comment 24) : Serious, wow you’re the first person I read saying he’s friendly….actualy good to hear then.
nice!! Now give Adi and Waylon a few games together, you guys will be suprised!! under ther circumstances, a pretty good team. i realy do hope Hargreaves takes his chance. why hasnt he really kicked on from age-group level?
@Original Pierre (Comment 21) : Blue vs. Highlanders…go with the home team imo
I’m showing faith by picking the Sharks on LMS
Who’s with me?? 
@FireTheLooser (Comment 29) : boks were tired and overplayed last year, were they not? having the front row stocks available to the sharks and rotating them will only benefit smit and the brothers doep, and anyway, this is a team game, if bis just in it for bis then he needs to grow up
@Megatron (Comment 25) : Doesn’t matter bring it on
@VanWilder (Comment 31) : Like your nic…
Hargreaves seem to finaly making the grade at senior level, he seemed to struggle but now finaly he’s getting confidence..hope he does well
@Jarson’s (X + V) (Comment 33) : YES!! I almost picked the Cheetahs, but my conscience got the better of me
@FireTheLooser (Comment 32) : What your take on the Sharks team for this week?
Landers came back strong against Saders. Think they going to surprise some teams this year. Have not done my bru picks yet. Will think about it first and put it in tomorrow.
Canes looked too good for Blues last week.
@war1 (Comment 34) : As long as it is only rotational, but I’m not to sure it is…might be a horses for courses attitude in which case Bis probably won’t mind too much, but if this is a permanent move, I think Bis will be very unhappy.
Bissie needs to change his mind set
@ 30, He was very friendly,deysel also very nice, and had a long chat with ruan,told him he was the hero we needed to step up,burden was moody until i asked to take a pic with my girl who’s a model with big boobies,
@FireTheLooser (Comment 39) : look, we all want to be the best, but sometimes you have to take a step back for the sake of the team,
@Puma (Comment 38) : Very happy with the Sharks team I must admit. Still missing Swannie and Rhodes though, but MUCH better and a MUCH more settled team than last week, we’ll see a different team on Friday, I’m excited to see them play.
Hard to choose between Landers and Blues, but Blues seemed rather ordinary last week, so Landers might do it. If it wasnt for Cowan though they’d be rubish as well, he’s their trump card.
Still waiting to see what the rest of the teams look like before making pics for superbru.
@willa (Comment 41) : Bet that cheered him up, Burden does seem to be mislik at best….very intense when he’s on the field.
Hope Ruan realises what you said is true and will make him take his FH position serious.
I havent once heard that Bismarck is not a great guy to chat to.
@Salmonoid (Comment 45) : Just heard a lot of accusations of him and big bro Dup being premadonas…normaly goes in hand with arrogance and such…but maybe just empty stories dreamed up by journos. Hope so.
GO SHARKS !!!
@FireTheLooser (Comment 43) : Yes the team looks better than last week, only we miss Muller and Mostert.
Adi out of position at 12???? Hope he is okay there. Think John playing hooker cause we going to face a strong scrum against the Cheethas. Bissie probably be back at hooker at some stage, but for now pleased John is starting at hooker.
Where is Swannie? Going to need him I think when we travel. Odwa too a bit slow would love to see Mvovo for a season on the wing. Think he has far more speed and will get more experience if we play him more often. Odwa does have experience though.
Much better looking team. Glad Bismarck on the bench, but it might not be be JUST about discipline, but also the fact that Muller and Mostert isn’t there and the second row is now a lot lighter and they needed to strenghen the scrum.
@Puma (Comment 48) : I don’t really know if 12 is out of position for Adi…he’s played a lot there. I think Adi is better suited at 12 and could create something there. Monty and Strauss had NO creativity, but Ruan and Adi at 10 & 12 could create some space for Waylon
@Puma (Comment 48) : I would like to see Ludick at 14 when fit cause I can’t see Plum dropping Oupa
@Pokkel (Comment 49) : Only Hargreaves on the light-er side at 113kg, Psycho Sykes weighs in at a healthy 117kg. Muller is only 114kg, Mostert probably being the bulk at lock.
I think it’s more of a horses for courses move seeing as Free State has a strong scrum. Get a bonified TH in the scrum and get some forward momentum.
Not a bad team… I feel better about this weekend.
@Pokkel (Comment 50) : Pokkel hope so mate, just thought Adi plays far better at 13.
Stefan is slow but very reliable at the back. Then would like to see what Ludik can offer there? He is faster no doubt.
Once we get all the injured back we should be looking a lot better. Read that Swannie still getting over his injury, was not sure where he was. Think we going to need him for the overseas tour. Muller too.
@Puma (Comment 54) : let’s hope Ludik is still as fast
Ok I am not really good with the positioning thing, still have to learn all about forwards, halfs, hookers, etc, but I am happy with the team at the moment and I sure hope that we will show the Cheetahs that last year’s win by them was just a fluke
Sharks can do it this time.
Weather report shows no rain for Friday…. the Sharks can swim underwater but seem to struggle with getting wet
@dawnwallenkamp (Comment 57) : Ja, underwater their fine, it’s swimming on top of water that they struggle with…
@dawnwallenkamp (Comment 57) : i checked the weather report twice, just to be sure. more good news
I see point allocation have worked and there are few “picless” bloggers
it’s very good team. Like Smit at hooker – more for giving Bis some time on the bench for some pondering of new laws
than really for the fact of John being back at hooker. These rotations have a tendency of backfiring at a later stage.
Good to see Charl on the bench.
And I though that Alberts made good impact last week (barring some indiscipline) – so wanted to say to Rob that he was justified in his crash on then Lions player
@FireTheLooser (Comment 58) : such a pity then that they are not playing lions now – it seems like havens are pouring down onto jozzi.
@war1 (Comment 59) : Wasn’t Saturday supposed to be clear skies also…
Tell you what, Saturday at the game it literally only rained during the game, as in when the players came on the field the rain fell, half time it stopped, second when they came on the field it start, end of game it stopped….very freaky
@rekinek (Comment 62) : Actualy raining here on the south coast as well, probably then raining in Durbs….one week to late for a wet practice session…
Hi everyone just got on glad monty is moved to the bench don’t know much about these postions still learning a lot, but is monty not the guy that always looses the ball forward and cost us a lot of points last year or do i have the wrong guy
@FireTheLooser (Comment 63) : time will tell, the game starts at 6pm as well, that may help with the stifling heat factor, dont know
@Charmaine (Comment 65) : I’m not sure if that was Monty, he’s the guy that normaly doesn’t do anything wrong, but he doesnt add anything either…good FH, but what we need is a great FH like Ruan to take us to S14 glory.
You might be thinking of Andries Strauss though, luckily he’s also on the bench, Adi replacing him…
@war1 (Comment 66) : i don’t think we should expect fireworks from durban games in feb though, raining or not i would imagine ball being wet/humid.
@war1 (Comment 66) : Normaly at 18:00 the humidity is still killer hot, even Saturday evening before the rain one felt the humidity.
Depends on the weather, raining today so if the sun shines tomorrow or Friday the humidity will be even worse, should favour the Sharks though….me living on the South Coast even takes some time to get used to the Durban humidity, the ‘Staters will struggle with it.
@rekinek (Comment 68) : agreed, but i would rather play the game at 6pm than, say 3 pm
@rekinek (Comment 68) : It is actualy to our advantage to play only two home games first up if we are to hunt bonus points this year…even ’07 the first 6 games were home games and we couldn’t buy a 4th try.
You know i’ve always asked this q when its rains the ball is always wet and the guys seem to loose the ball forward because its wet now why don’t they bring in these gloves something like those pool gloves you get won’t it help to keep the ball instead of loosing it forward
@war1 (Comment 70) : True, at least the sun won’t beat down on the players, just humidity to contend with.
according to news 24 weather:
Thursday: Sprinkles early. More sun than clouds. Mild. Max: 27 Min: 21
Friday: Partly cloudy. Warm. Max: 29 Min: 23
@FireTheLooser (Comment 71) : that was the case last year – 2 at home before the tour and Plum was saying how it suits the team.
@rekinek (Comment 75) : True, there’s just no getting used to humidity, and you can’t hide from it either.
@rekinek (Comment 75) : the draw last year was perfect. this year is exactly the opposite
@FireTheLooser (Comment 46) :
I have read those accusations as well, mostly on blogs but I have also read that the 2 brothers are really good guys to chat to off the field.
@war1 (Comment 74) : You know what 29 in Durban language means….add about 15-18 deg for humidity and you’ll know where you are….HELL
@Salmonoid (Comment 78) : Maybe they’re just realy able to switch on when on the field and switch off of the field
@FireTheLooser (Comment 79) : i haven’t been to durban for a LONG time
certainly not in February, blame it on postgraduate studies
@war1 (Comment 81) : Deban, Cape Town, they all the same, World Cup, World Cup
@Charlie (Comment 82) : dont get to cape town much either
So Rob , any stars for calling the changes …????
Cheetahs to steal at least 5 Shark line-outs.
After the game John Smit will say they were caught of guard by the Cheetahs being able to count in English.
@war1 (Comment 59) : Thank goodness for that!!!!
@FireTheLooser (Comment 58) : Too true hey LOL
SO glad they kept Murray in the starting line up
He needs game time after being out so long with his knee injury. Give him a few games and half way through the Super14 2010 and he will start shining and showing his old form 
Jacobs and Murray at centre – great combo 
@lyledperry (Comment 89) : one of the best on paper. They need to turn it on on grass, though
@robdylan (Comment 90) : Green, green grass of home (Shark Tank)
@lyledperry (Comment 89) : welcome to the site, Lyle. Hope you enjoy it here.
Feeding time Friday @ 18:00 Shark Tank…Whoo, Whoo !!!
Ok Sharks had better win because I am going to be at the game!!!!!
Woohoo!!!! Thank you Sharksworld. At least now I will be closer to the Ref so he must thing long and hard before any decisions are made 