According to a recent interview with the Sharks website, coach John Plumtree looks to be putting his faith in a squad of only 28 players for the upcoming Super Rugby tournament.
With other teams having named squads with between 30 and 32 players in them, the Sharks have settled on a core group of 28, who are currently training together, with Jean Deysel the only current injury concern. The squad contains few newcomers and boasts good depth in most positions – comprising the bulk of the team that won the Currie Cup last year, along with three new backs in Meyer Bosman, Jacques-Louis Potgieter and Conrad Hoffman.
Interestingly, there is little room for any of the young players that came through for the Sharks when the chips were down last season. Patrick Lambie and Lwazi Mvovo are, of course, established members of the squad by now, but others like Anton Bresler, Kyle Cooper, Wiehahn Herbst and Piet Lindeque will have to make do with Vodacom Cup rugby for the time being. We reported a few days ago that Pumas scrumhalf Tian Meyer was understood to be training with the side; there has been no official confirmation of a place in the squad for him at this stage, though. Plumtree did indicate that Mark Richards – a young winger who is highly-rated by the coach – could come into the Super Rugby picture in the near future though.
Here is the current Sharks squad of 28. 27 of them (that is, the entire squad except Deysel) will leave for a training camp in Rustenburg next week.
Forwards: Beast Mtawarira, John Smit, Jannie du Plessis, Eugene van Staden, Bismarck du Plessis, Craig Burden, Steven Sykes, Alistair Hargreaves, Ross Skeate, Gerhard Mostert, Keegan Daniel, Jacques Botes, Willem Alberts, Jean Deysel, Ryan Kankowski
Backs: Charl McLeod, Conrad Hoffmann, Patrick Lambie, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Meyer Bosman, Riaan Swanepoel, Adrian Jacobs, Stefan Terblanche, Luzuko Vulindlu, JP Pietersen, Lwazi Mvovo, Odwa Ndungane, Louis Ludik
Watch out for Vulindlu this season, said it before, i reckon it’s his year…
Wrt meyer, i saw pics of him training with the senior squad.
so you’ve got your squad on 11 Jan. In la-la land we have to wait until 11 Feb
@The Quirk (Comment 1) : I hope you’re right, dude. We’ve been waiting for Zuks to come good for some time now. He has all the attributes and could make that tricky 13 jersey his own
The Sharks are in a much better place this year than at the same time last year. Last year the Alberts Ludick fight was still on and we didn’t have a flyhalf. The Sharks look a much more settled unit and I’m hoping for a much improved showing this year from them.
@walter van Lions World (Comment 3) : bear in mind that we had to piece the squad together ourselves… it wasn’t revealed on the official site
@walter van Lions World (Comment 3) : are your management not waiting for ‘big name’ signings?
@Pokkel (Comment 5) : you are right… we have no excuses this year.
@war1 (Comment 7) : remember Walter isn’t the enemy here…
@war1 (Comment 2) : I’m sure they will still include him… we’ll need a 3rd scrummie in that group.
@war1 (Comment 7) : and I’m waiting for big name management!
@robdylan (Comment 9) : War1′s been to my house…he knows where I live!
@walter van Lions World (Comment 12) : ha ha – fair point
@walter van Lions World (Comment 11) : that would be better than the big talking management you have at the moment. However, serfontein may turn out to be the best signing of the season for you guys.
@walter van Lions World (Comment 12) : haven’t you moved since then?
@war1 (Comment 15) : yes, of course…LOL!
@war1 (Comment 14) : agree with that 1000%. For their sake, I hope he sticks around
back to the topic, please Sharks, be one of the 6 teams to go through this year! I’m holding thumbs!
@walter van Lions World (Comment 18) : thanks Walt… I reckon we need to view it as a failure if we don’t go through this year…
@robdylan (Comment 19) : @walter van Lions World (Comment 18) : yeah like you said rob we have no excuses this year!
@walter van Lions World (Comment 3) : Hey be careful what you say, you have your press creds revoked again.
@walter van Lions World (Comment 11) : Of course, you guys are waiting to hear from Beast. I think we’re all waiting to hear from the man.
And good luck to the Lions for the season. You’ve finally got rid of your cancer (Earl Rose) so things can only get better.
@Pokkel (Comment 5) :
I think we did have a flyhalf at this time last year. I know we didnt have one 24 hours before the kick off though. All in all the Sharks are in a much healthier position than a year ago.
@walter van Lions World (Comment 3) : Still waiting for some of the fish to get reeled in…
Was last year the 6 losses follow by 6 wins in a row year?
@klempie (Comment 24) : There’s fish in the Cape aswell, the ones on the East Coast has been exhausted.
@Jarson (AddicteD) (Comment 26) : Very subtle I love it!
Surprised at no bresler,lindeque( 13 and wing cover ) or kyle cooper in the squad..
Only four locks (hope mostert can play to his potential and stay injury-free ..rate him)
Wouldve thrown ojiambo in there .
@robdylan: any news on jacques engelbrecht? We still thin @loose forward..
Lol, abi J its time to give linique a go!!!this years pic for newcomer of the year
@BoerSeun (Comment 30) : I’m also seriously hoping that Piet comes through, but I reckon he needs to seriously set the field alight in the Vodacom Cup first. The Sharks coaches seem to expect that younger players will seriously excel in lower-league competitions before promoting them. That’s why Richards looks likely to be the first guy given a shot.
Adi jacobs mustnt be under-rated..have some doubts over his defence @ times but he has plenty ball-skills
how many players allowed per super15 team(squad size) ?
Just watchin sharkbite..the boys looking good for the year..strong..built well..even smittie is looking solid..says his injury really plagueg him..so let’s give him the benefit of having a great 2011….
@bergshark (Comment 33) : 15 on the field and 7 on the bench….
@bergshark (Comment 33) : Last year it was 30 so I guess it will be the same this year, unless they increased it becuase the teams are playing 3 more group games
@robdylan (Comment 35) :
Hehe…
As we say every year, though – the official squad lists mean diddly…
@robdylan (Comment 38) : Ok so Chrome is installed and working…so let’s see what the fuss is about.
@Pokkel (Comment 39) : Spell check …nice.
@Pokkel (Comment 40) : yay! I did some good in the world!
@robdylan (Comment 41) :
Gee this is good news where will they be training i would love for them to signed my white jeresy
@chaz (Comment 43) : i tried to edit but nothing just a black page i was talking where in RTB
@chaz (Comment 44) : I’m trying to get details about whether there will be public access to the team when they’re in Rustenburg.