Craig Burden will take over in the number 2 jersey from Kyle Cooper as Sean Everitt names his Sharks XV side to play the Pumas at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Friday night. The home sides features a fair few players who have spent time on the fringes of the Sharks squad.
Everitt has opted to make a number of rotational changes to the side which beat the Leopards convincingly last weekend, with Burden the only change to a powerful forward pack, once again lead by Jean Deysel. More changes come amongst the backs, where Kobus de Kock, one of the form players of the season so far, makes way for impressive young Gouws Prinsloo at fullback. In a further change to the back three, the injured Mark Richards is replaced by a fellow Sevens Bok in Sbu Sithole, while Conrad Hoffmann, who has spent a fair bit of time on the Sharks bench this year without spending very much on the field, will take advantage of the Super Rugby team’s bye and enjoy some good game time with the XV.
The bench has been reshuffled somewhat as well and with Deysel probably lined up for a full 80 minutes this week, there is no need to keep two loose forwards on the bench. Lambert Groenewalt is the unlucky one to drop out of the 22 as a result, with last week’s starting scrumhalf, Cobus Reinach, wearing the number 20 jersey. De Kock joins Heimar Williams as the other backline reserve.
Meanwhile, no fewer than five of the Pumas side have been in and around the Sharks squad in recent years, with scrumhalf Tian Meyer the most recent of those. In addition to the former Westville boy, Rudi Mathee, Pellow van der Westhuizen, Tiaan Marx and Carl Bezuidenhout have all been Sharks at some stage in their careers.
The Sharks XV
15. Gouws Prinsloo
14. Sbura Sithole
13. Jerome Pretorius
12. Riaan Swanepoel
11. Rosko Specman
10. Guy Cronje
9. Conrad Hoffmann
8. Marcell Coetzee
7. Jean Deysel (Captain)
6. Francois Kleinhans
5. Jandre Marais
4. Anton Bresler
3. Wiehahn Herbst
2. Craig Burden
1. Dale Chadwick
Replacements
16. Kyle Cooper
17. Sabelo Nhlapo
18. Daniel Adongo
19. Peet Marais
20. Cobus Reinach
21. Heimar Williams
22. Kobus de Kock
Pumas vs. Sharks XV: Carl Bezuidenhout; Deon Scholtz, JW Jonker, Tiaan Marx, Dewald Pieters; Coenie van Wyk, Tian Meyer; Doppies le Roux, Jaco Bouwer, Corné Steenkamp, Boela Serfontein, Rudi Mathee, Ashley Buys, Hans van Dyk, Dawie Steyn. Replacements: Pellow van der Westhuizen, Brett Nel, Dee-Jay Terblanche, Eduan van der Walt, Martin Sithole, Shaun Venter, Ashwin Scott.
Some decent forwards you got there Rob.
Don’t know much about the backline players.
How come Duane’s lovechild is on the bench??
@wpw (Comment 1) : cos he’s still learning the nuances of loose forward play and, to be honest, you can’t pick him ahead of any of the three starters…
Nice to see Hoffie getting a run
Fantastic team..
Wish I could see Hoffmann play!
damn, I wish they hadn’t moved this game to bloody Maputo
It will be great to see Hofman somewhere ekse than the bench. Hope he does well as he needs some solid game time. And another practice run for Deysel before he c
@Viking (Comment 6) : Oops!
It will be great to see Hofman somewhere ekse than the bench. Hope he does well as he needs some solid game time. And another practice run for Deysel before he can make his return to Super ruggas.
@robdylan (Comment 5) :
Its a pity boet.. Hard luck!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 8) : why can’t they even put this stuff on TV? It does your head in
@Viking (Comment 7) :
Deysel won’t necessarily walk into the Sharks game against the Hurricanes..
@robdylan (Comment 9) :
I would pay to be able to watch this game..
maybe it will be on a rerun at 3 in the morning or something stupid!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 11) : don’t think they’ll even have a camera crew there.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 10) : Most definitely not. But more competition for those top spots is always good. I can just imagine how big he has to play to win a starting line-up spot. That would be something to see.
Very glad that Hoffman will get some decent game time!
Where is Ross Cronje?
@Viking (Comment 13) :
The point I was trying to make, and sorry for not elaborating on it, was that Plumtree said that Deysel still has a few weeks to go before being Super Rugby ready.
Will be good to know why De Kock (according to the article one of the form players of the season so far) was benched. Is Prinsloo (impressive young according to the article)that much a better option?
@snoestaxi (Comment 17) :
I think it comes down to resting a key player before the play-offs.. to be honest..
I can see no other reason to drop him, unless he is carrying a niggle of some sort, because he did go off just after half time in their last game.
Any idea where Johan Jackson is?
@Ben (Comment 19) : I don’t even know WHO he is.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 20) : Plays fullback for the Pumas.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 20) @Ben (Comment 21) : More importantly Johan and Ben were at Rustenburg High School together.
This is going to be a nice occasion for me as i get to go watch the game! Bought my tickets today and it is front row all the way babe! I just hope the weather here wants to change to sunny as it has been cloudy the whole day and it has been raining softly for the past 2-3hours. I will try and do score updates on the site if rob makes a thread for me
@beet (Comment 22) : Haha yip that’s right, got a good memory don’t you?
@beet (Comment 22) : Have you seen Johan play? He played against the Sharks XV on Saturday. He’s Buff!
@Ben (Comment 19) :
Did’nt he have a run with the Lions a few years ago? I think they used him on the wing though?
@JustPlainSHARK (Comment 26) : Yip that’s him.
@G West (Comment 23) : you bloody rockstar! Count on it!
@wpw (Comment 1) :
@ Duane’s lovechild!!!
I will make notes and try to write a report on the whole thing if i don’t drink too much hahaha.