According to an article in the KZN Witness, John Plumtree appears set to make widespread changes to his team to face the Highlanders this weekend, with regular captain Keegan Daniel to start at flank after being rested against the Chiefs.
Daniel and Marcell Coetzee are expected to take over at open and blind side flank respectively from Derick Minnie and Jean Deysel, although Tera Mtembu appears to have done enough to keep his spot at number 8. Further changes to the pack should see Kyle Cooper and Franco van der Merwe come back in to the starting line-up, at the expense of Craig Burden and Anton Bresler. Wiehahn Herbst looks set to continue at loose head prop.
The backline seems a little less certain, with JP Pietersen and Lwazi Mvovo both set to return, contrary to our information that Mvovo was still a week away from fitness. Plumtree has apparently yet to decide whether to bring Pietersen in at right wing, replacing Odwa Ndungane, or at outside centre for Frans Steyn; the latter played his best game of the season in the number 13 jersey last week and is surely due another start in that position.
The Sharks team should be confirmed later today.
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There is no reason to give Marcell a start ahead of Deysel.
And I dont think dropping Minnie is a good move.
Hopefully the news on the backline is true. That will be a big boost
Are you kidding? Daniel and Coetzee? If this happens it might be the first Sharks game that I choose not to watch.
Big mistake.
Daniel is no open-sider. He struggles to turn over ball legally and gets pushed off the ball easily. If you have a real open-side as in Minnie should be a no-brainer.
@Letgo (Comment 2) : Hehe that was the exact reaction I had! Trust Plum to go back to what has not worked this season and tamper with what has worked 😈 I am starting to feel like KSA Plum and his 3 stooges need to go! Come on Barney make the call!
@Bokhoring (Comment 4) : Precisely for a change with both Deysel and Minnie we started to get possession but obviously Plum is of the opinion that to score tries you do not need the ball! 👿 I give up!
@Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 5) :
Yip, this is very upsetting to me. I thought anyone could see the difference when we had a balanced loose trio on the field. I mean everything wasn’t perfect, but there was a clear improvement.
This is crap, it’s like Plum is trying to screw the Sharks up. Hopefully he leaves when he’s done.
MXM 👿
Plum is supposed to be a breakdown guru, but the Sharks play hardly shows that ever.
KD plays more like an 8 than a 6. If you have no 6 in your squad, then by all means use him at 6. But if you do have one, then play him off the bench.
The only changes I would make to the starting team is Cooper for Burden, Steyn to 12, Lindeque to 13, JPP and Mvovo (I hear he may be ready) at wings.
@Letgo (Comment 7) : @Bokhoring (Comment 9) : And the worrying thing here is that when there is no possession and we struggle, or maybe lose, then Plum will say that its Terra that is the weak link and next week will replace him with his love child Keegan at 8 and maybe play Steyn at flank 👿 !
@Letgo (Comment 2) : FFS! I am with you. I might be sweeping the pavement or flossing. Gawd damn Plum!!
We have so many injuries that is disrupting the team from getting momentum through combinations, then Plum goes and adds to the disruptions by making unecessary changes week after week. Yet Again Lambie has been the only player constantly selected this year. The rest if them are in this week out next week and in a different position the week after. I suppose it is just a matter of time before Lambie is also relegated to the bench or fullback!
I dont see this as being true.
I think its just rumours.
Minnie (6), Deysel (7), Daniel (8th man).
Mtembu to come from the bench, even though he had a good debut but Keegan needed that rest. I think Keegan could be back to his best this weekend.
– Franco in for Bresler.
– Cooper in for Burden
– JP to return.
– Bosman has been pretty good except last week but I will
keep him in. He is allowed one bad one.
– Frans Steyn looked better at centre. He is a player that
wants the ball so centre works out perfectly – he must be in it!!!
My team I would like to see:
1. Wiehahn
2. Cooper
3. Jannie
4. PSDT
5. Franco
6. Minnie
7. Deysel
8. Daniel
9. Macleod
10. Lambie
11. Mvovo/Ndungane
12. Bosman
13. Steyn
14. JP
15. Viljoen
The bench will choose itself. LOL. Who ever is fit can sit on the bench. LOL.
@CPT Shark (Comment 13) : I am still worried about Steyn’s defence at 13. He is just too slow.
Surely Plum won`t drop Deysel and Minnie ❓
@Bokhoring (Comment 14) : I agree. He is a bit slow. But with ball in hand he can still be a huge asset. Currently with Whitehead and Jordaan out, we dont have much options unless JP takes the 13 jumper. Afterall he did just that in semis last year against stormers and scored awesome try and had an awesome game.
With Frans though, he needs to play to get his form back.
He has picked up a crazy amount of weight – lord alone knows what he ate in the past 6 months. LOL.
But I do believe he is a player that will get better as each game goes.
@Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 10) : I think that will be a very accurate prediction.
i dont believe it for a sec ,that is not the team that will take the field on saturday regardless what is announced
@Poisy (Comment 18) : We can only hope.
@Poisy (Comment 18) :
And if Plum does change it at the last second then we’re back to his old trick of mind games, because that helps ❗ ❓
@Letgo (Comment 20) : if he really starts with that team its official his having a mid life crisis and our team is suffering because of it
Plum does take his time announcing his side. The side I would pick would be:
15. JP 14. Mvovo 13. Lindeque 12. Frans 11. Sithole 10. Lambie 9. Reincah 1. Herbst 2. Cooper 3. Jannie 4. Bresler 5. Steph du Toit 6. Daniel 7. Deysel 8. Coetzee
@Saffex (Comment 22) : Reinach is back in SA.
@Saffex (Comment 22) : Love that team, but Reinach is injured 🙁
@Saffex (Comment 22) : I like that lose trio combo
@Pokkel (Comment 23) : Ah damn, forgot about that…..McLeod it is
@Ice (Comment 25) : Yeah tough call on Mtembu given his debut, but would have him on the bench
@Saffex (Comment 27) : he was excellent yes!
@Saffex (Comment 27) : You still believe Daniel has just been playing badly because he’s been picked out of position or with the wrong combination.
I wouldn’t bring Daniel anywhere near that starting line up and Marcell, well I’m not sure about him either. If you can show me the last time he took a pass moving forward and not planting both his heals, pausing, dropping his shoulder, waiting for the tackle and then trying to get some forward momentum I’ll back you on his selection, but I think you’ll have a hard time finding anything like that this year.
Both these players are way of their game and we looked a better team with them sitting on the bench cheering us on.
I like your backline though. Viljoen doesn’t cut it for me and with both Mvovo and JP maybe ready this week this might be a great backline. Weeding out the save/boring for some attacking players.
With all due respect Letgo. In a sense a agree with you, but have u taken into consideration that these guys have been played into the ground, and could be off form because of tiredness and not just because they are bad?
@Letgo (Comment 29) : Well Plum disagrees with you and the Witness was correct. Except wait for it, even John Bishop could get Plum’s full “logical” thinking on the bench sits Minnie bracketed with the so fast wing Odwa!!!! While on the bench there is already Lindique, which leads me to believe that one of JP or Mvovo will a) not really play or B) Should not be playing! 👿
@Letgo (Comment 29) : I hear you on Daniel and Coetzee. With Daniel, there is no doubt that he should never play 8. The lad is such a talent as a link player and I’m sure he is a game away from being at his best.
Coetzee has lost his attacking mojo…..when he first burst onto the scene, we saw him trying to beat the opposition through skill, there was the odd step and he attacked space. Now that he has settled as it were, he seems to think that the direct route is the answer. A simple talking to should sort him out.
I’d be happy with Mtembu ahead of either Daniel or Coetzee at this stage, but ultimately they are and should be the better players, struggling a little with form.
I dont rate Viljoen either, his poor clearance kicks cost the Sharks last week and he offers nothing with ball in hand. Viljoen and Bosman have to go
@Saffex (Comment 32) : I actually disagree with you on Daniel. He is more of an 8 (unorthodox maybe) than a 6. He mostly get smashed off the ball before he can even make a turnover or even slow the ball down – just does not have the strength like a Brussow or Louw or even Stegman.
@Bokhoring (Comment 33) : He is not that kind of 6, he is more of a link player. He is far too light for 8. You need physicality at the back of a scrum. I would never play him at 8, just like Coetzee is not a 6.
@Saffex (Comment 34) : He plays 6 as a kind of second 8th man. I have no problem with that if you have no real open sider available.
@Bokhoring (Comment 35) : Yeah fair enough – the Sharks dont have a fetcher. Minnie is the closest bet