The Sharks XV take on the Free State XV in the third round of Vodacom Cup matches on Friday night, with Jean Deysel finally getting himself back on the field of play, after some extensive rehab. The big flanker will lead the side from the 7 jersey, in the place of Francois Kleinhans, who takes a break following a suspension for stomping.
The centres who did duty for the Sharks XV last week against Western Province, are both on tour with the Super Rugby squad, meaning Wandile Mjekevu will come in one jersey from the wing to play outside Heimar Williams, who will be wearing the 12 jersey.
Kyle Cooper has been selected ahead of Monde Hadebe, and starts his first game after he too had a lengthy time on the sidelines with an injury. The call up of Nick Schonert to join the touring party has led to Allan Dell being selected to start at tighthead.
Conrad Hoffmann will again come off the bench, still gaining match fitness after his own injury. Piet Lindeque comes onto the bench to cover the centres.
The Sharks XV
15. Gouws Prinsloo
14. S’bura Sithole
13. Wandile Mjekevu
12. Heimar Williams
11. Rosko Specman
10. Fred Zeilinga
9. Cobus Reinach
8. Lubabalo Mtembu
7. Jean Deysel (Capt)
6. Chris Cloete
5. Pieter-Steph du Toit
4. Peet Marais
3. Allan Dell
2. Kyle Cooper
1. Danie Mienie
Replacements
16. Monde Hadebe
17. Nicolaas van Dyk
18. Braam Steyn
19. Brynard Stander
20. Conrad Hoffmann
21. Piet Lindeque
22. Jors Dannhauser
Tweet
How long was Kleinhans sent on holiday for?
@Morné (Comment 1) :
Nobody seems to know?
@Morné (Comment 1) : @Richard Ferguson (Comment 2) : Hope he learns his lesson. That was a stupid thing to do. Other than that incident he was brilliant against WP last week.
Who is the regular Captain?
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 2) : @Ben (Comment 3) :
He is a very good young player.
Another question.
If Deysel is fit, why not have him on tour? I know the big thing about match fitness etc but clearly he is fit for 80 minutes of rugby if he is captain?
I would rather have a Deysel on the bench on tour than playing in the VC.
@Ben (Comment 3) : True, he was the stand out player of the Sharks 15.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 4) : 1st game Jandre Marais was captain and last week Monde Hadebe was.
@Morné (Comment 6) :
Deysel will probably play 40 minutes, and Hadebe (the regular captain) will come on in the second half..
@Morné (Comment 6) : Fram what I understand Deysel will be leaving to join the tour if he comes through this game okay. The Sharks have only toured with 25 leaving a spot for Deysel to make the 26.
@Ben (Comment 8) : I would have thought they’d settle on a captain an dlet him lead the team for as long as possible, switching everyweek is not ideal IMO.
@Morné (Comment 6) :
@KSA Shark © (Comment 10) :
It seems to be a race between Skeate and Deysel to see who will make up the 26th player on the tour.
Seems Deysel has the inside line by playing already, but we wait to see how fit he is..
@KSA Shark © (Comment 11) :
In the U21 campaing last year, they appointed two captains, and they rotated every week, yet both played every week as they were both hookers who replaced each other..
I am not sure how effective it is?!
@KSA Shark © (Comment 10) : @Richard Ferguson (Comment 12) :
Ahh okay – makes sense now
Brilliant news. Lets hope he comes through unscathed.
@Morné (Comment 1) : 3 weeks
@robdylan (Comment 16) : Dammit. Serves him right though.
Feel sorry for Cheetahs VC team, shame gonna have Deysel, Du Toit and Cooper running at them, and have Cloete and Deysel stealing any ball they do get 😆
Keen to see how Allan Dell goes, really want him to perform well and put some pressure on Jannie and Hebst.
@Ben (Comment 17) : Kleinhans out and Cloete in…we not losing anything, they both great players n fetchers.
@JJR (Comment 19) : Haven’t really seen Cloete yet. Will keep a close eye on him.
@Ben (Comment 20) : Your in 4 a surprise then, cos Cloete is even better than Kleinhans when it comes to stealing ball…his success rate is very high.
Cloete is a monster on the ground,remember how he turned over all the ball we had in 2009,when Selborne beat Queen’s,no doubt if Cloete wasn’t there Queen’s would have beaten Selborne,but Cloete was the difference with his work on the ground,I’d even say he’s the finest behind Brussow
Also notable is the presence of two Queenians,a Selbornian,a Dalian..making us Border boys proud ey
@Ludz (Comment 23) : YOU KNOW THIS Ludz, us Border Boys we’ve been killing this game of rugby for YEARS! 😆
@Ludz (Comment 23) : kwenzeka ntoni ngoAndile Jho, ikhona into oyaziyo?
@Megatron (Comment 25) : last I heard he was playing for Tuks u20,the young guns,gonna be tough to get regular game time with the Bulls with Jan Serfontein,Christopher Bosch and Frans Venter all ahead of him
I read somewhere that this game will be televised? I’d confirm it myself but the SS site is not very phone friendly.
@Ludz (Comment 26) : And Dries Swanepoel to come back from injury. Add to that Ulrich Beyers at 13. Jho will definitely fall out favour