John Smit has been named at loosehead prop in the only change to the Sharks team to face the Chiefs on Friday morning (SA time).
With John Plumtree boasting four front row Springboks, together with the talented Craig Burden, amongst his squad, some rotation amongst the heavies is going to be inevitable and after captaining the side from the tighthead prop position against the Rebels last week, Smit takes over from Tendai Mtawarira at loosehead this time out.
Jannie du Plessis comes back into the starting lineup in the number 3 jersey, with Mtawarira swapping places with him and sitting on the bench wearing 17.
The remainder of the team is unchanged, with Louis Ludik passed fit to start at fullback despite picking up a knee injury in Melbourne.
The Sharks
15. Louis Ludik
14. Odwa Ndungane
13. Stefan Terblanche
12. Meyer Bosman
11. Lwazi Mvovo
10. Patrick Lambie
9. Charl McLeod
8. Ryan Kankowski
7. Willem Alberts
6. Keegan Daniel
5. Alistair Hargreaves
4. Steven Sykes
3. Jannie du Plessis
2. Bismarck du Plessis
1. John Smit (Capt)
Replacements
16. Craig Burden
17. Tendai Mtawarira
18. Anton Bresler
19. Jacques Botes
20. Conrad Hoffmann
21. Jacques-Louis Potgieter
22. Adrian Jacobs
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Good team..
If we keep our forwards game going, we can win this.
Chiefs are there for the taking.
Going to be a great game, really looking forward to this one.
Good News. If JS has to play prop it`s gotta be loosehead.
the forwards look good to me. Wouldn’t mind some back rotation. Give Adi and JLP a start.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 1) : if they play donald we should be fine 😈
Maybe bring JLP on for the last half hour and hide Lambie at 15?
Hope playing Ludik despite his niggle doesn`t come back to bite us.
GO SHARKS !!!
Does this mean that Smittie will play @ hooker against the Sader next week?
@rekinek (Comment 4) : Patience… 😉
@Original Champion (Comment 6) : Don’t think we need to ‘hide’ Lambie at all. He might need a rest, so maybe it would be a good idea to see how the game is doing at halftime and do a straight swop with JLP.
@Butchie34 (Comment 10) : I`d want our best kicker on the field but I don`t want him involved in too many collisions, that`s why I feel he should move away from the action.
Long season still to go . .. We need to look after our game breakers.
@Original Champion (Comment 11) : toughen up 😎
I’d love to see JLP given a start at 12, just to see how well he would fit in there – perhaps after we beat the Crusaders and we’re well ahead on the log. He could start against one of the minnow sides like the Bulls
@vanmartin (Comment 13) : that’s the kind of comment that comes back to bite you 🙂
If we want to beat the Crusaders then Smit needs to be benched.
Good team, I wonder when the Plum will start to rotate his backline as well.
@robdylan (Comment 14) : Just messing around – don’t take my comments seriously. You have to admit though – it’s just so easy to be smug at the moment if you’re a Sharks supporter. I just have to look to the right of any article on this site and see the Sharks are four points clear of everyone else on the log 😉
I, For one, am REALLy worried about this game for some reason… Just have to believe our boykies can do it!!
@vanmartin (Comment 17) : 2 😉
Smit should move into some sort of motivational role. He’s done iam afraid. Still has great value in any squad but not as a player.
Sharks could come unstuck in this game. They unfortunately thinking about their date in London with the Crusaders.
Might not be focussed on the Chiefs like they should be.
@Speed7 (Comment 21) : let’s hope not 🙄
@rekinek (Comment 23) : @Speed7 (Comment 21) : i mean not yet…
We can’t afford the sharks going into another game underestimating the threat of the opposition.beating any team on their home field takes some doing.have to front-up,gain dominance,use our opportunies.tackle,tackle,tackle and handling!sharks for ever!
@Speed7 (Comment 22) : hopefully last year defeat should be a warning.
Line-outs against the chiefs gonna be important.feel if we can get clean ball from line-out,there plenty of meters to gain with the rolling maul.but first ,execution of the line-out will have to be crisp.then we can drive at them,suck in those loosies and unleash one of our big ball-carriers @ their fh.or hit the blind-side.
I hope so too. Lots of Sharks in my Fl team.
@Speed7 (Comment 21) :and you know that for a fact?
third week of tour is traditionally a VERY tough game to win
@war1 (Comment 29) : no, of course he doesn’t. He just fishing and you should know better than to take that bait 🙂
@Speed7: you raise a good point.not many sharks will want to sit out that game vs saders on twickenham.but hope the whole team understands the importance of beating the chiefs this friday.need to put 100% into this friday’s game.only then start thinking of twickenham and the challenge of the saders.but before then looms the challenge of the chiefs.
Good team but would have liked Adi to get a start.
Think John will be shifting about the front row a bit to give the others a rest. Can’t see John starting at hooker against the Saders. If John is fit enough for 80min and we are well in the lead, would be good for John to move over to hooker later in the game and give Bissie a rest. We gonna need Bissie rested a bit before we play Saders. Pleased Beast getting a rest as well before we play Saders. All of our players gonna need it at some stage.
Focus should be all about the chiefs and the threats they pose.
@bergshark (Comment 27) : line outs been shaky this season. Just shows you how good other facets of the game are that the Sharks managed to get away with it so far.
@bergshark (Comment 34) : We have to win against the Chiefs. My feeling our next few games gonna be tough after the travel. So this is a must win game.
Just hope no injuries.
@robdylan (Comment 31) : That wasn’t a genuine question, more like a challenge. Perhaps some people shouldn’t state their own opinions (or fantasies) as facts.
@Puma:home games are must-win games .that is the case for every team,which means the chiefs also.sharks will have to play for and earn victory against chiefs.
Then the saders match.
Then we have 2 games against opposiotion.always gonna be tough,and being home games all the more important to win.
Agree, if prop then he should play LH – like this team!
I see in the Beeld that Marius Joubert is joining the Sharks at some stage.And they are interested in getting Ronnie Cooke as well.
Bumped 😛