He won’t run out ahead of the team or anything, given that a number of his impressive tally of Super Rugby caps were gained in another side’s livery, but Saturday’s match at Kings Park will be an important one for prop Jannie du Plessis nonetheless, as the big front-ranker gains his 100th cap in this competition.
Big Janneman represented the Cheetahs on 26 occasions in Super Rugby and will, on Saturday, win his 74th cap for the Sharks, marking 100 in total. That puts him just slightly behind Jacques Botes, who earned his 106th Super Rugby cap for the Sharks last week and will no doubt push that to 107 if he comes on against the Stormers.
Another man celebrating a milestone is lock Franco van der Merwe. He’s been capped 73 times for the Lions in this competition and in making his second appearance for the Sharks, will be playing his 75th game over all. Craig Burden and Jean Deysel will be playing their 40th and 45th games respectively, while Marcell Coetzee and Wiehahn Herbst will each earn their 25th.
Here’s the full list of players, with their current Super Rugby caps:
1. Tendai Mtawarira 77
2. Craig Burden 39
3. Jannie du Plessis 73 + 26 for Cheetahs = 99
4. Anton Bresler 25
5. Franco van der Merwe 1 + 73 for Lions = 74
6. Marcell Coetzee 24
7. Jean Deysel 44
8. Ryan Kankowski 77
9. Cobus Reinach 2
10. Patrick Lambie 36
11. Lwazi Mvovo 41
12. Francois Steyn 41
13. Paul Jordaan 11
14. JP Pietersen 88
15. Louis Ludik 33 + 36 for Lions = 69
Replacements
16. Kyle Cooper 2
17. Wiehahn Herbst 24
18. Pieter-Steph du Toit 7
19. Jacques Botes 106
20. Charl McLeod 43
21. Meyer Bosman 35 + 59 for Cheetahs = 94
22. Odwa Ndungane 83 + 10 for Bulls = 93
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Cant believe FS only played 41 times, feels like he should have about 300 caps.lol
Jp will get 100 this year?
@Talent (Comment 2) : I would think so, depending on injury and rotation
PSDT on 7 caps already!? That caught me by surprise
@Culling Song (Comment 4) : he made a fair few appearances as a sub last year, before his first injury
Poachers.
Jannie is a legend! Under-appreciated by some but only once he’s not there for the Sharks or the Boks do people realise what value he brings.
Plenty Sharks supporter on this site were calling for Jannie and Bismarck’s heads at one stage when their discipline weren’t the greatest but they both worked very hard on that aspect of their game.
@Pokkel (Comment 7) : Jannie has always been a pretty potent scrummager, but his hands and discipline used to let him down. Both are much improved though.