In what must surely be some sort of a record for the franchise, Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Jake White has named a completely unchanged match 23 for the third match in a row.
Bismarck du Plessis thus leads a full strength Sharks lineup into battle against the Lions on Saturday, with 11 capped internationals in the starting team and a further three on the bench.
All talk coming out of the camp this week has focused on the amount of respect the Sharks have for their opponents and the team selection reflects that nothing other than the very best Sharks performance will be acceptable against them.
Cell C Sharks
15 SP Marais, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Francois Steyn, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Subs: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Jean Deysel, 21 Charl McLeod, 22 Heimar Williams, 23 Sibusiso Sithole
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Well this is just taking the excitement out of the team naming… 😉
If the Sharks limit their turnovers and dont allow Lions to play from broken play then it will be a very very long day for the men from JHB. Sharks to win easily…but stranger things have happened. Im glad to see continuity. Hopefully the bench will get more of a role though
Still no J 😯 PP?
Was so excited to finally read some Sharks news! Shame on you Jake White for being so consistent! 😈
The consistency is positive
jeez, in a slow news week they are hardly helping us much 🙂
Nice Jake, nice.
The only way this team sheet would be better, in my humblest of opnions, is if JP was at 14 and Whitehead was in place of Williams on the bench. I feel he covers 12 and 13 better than Williams ever could.
But that’s just me.
Bet Jake can’t believe his luck with been able to do this. I wonder if any team in the history of SR has managed to do this?
Nevertheless what a great opportunity to get the core group gelling. Will get easier and easier to bring in other players without disruption.
Hope to see Sbura get a bit of a longer run this weekend.
@gregkaos (Comment 8) : and Cooper
@gregkaos (Comment 8) : Could well happen if the game is sewn up with 20-25 minutes left. Getting Bissie to leave the field when he’s subbed is another story though 😆
@robdylan (Comment 9) : Yes! Kyle is going to be such a critical player for the Sharks to succeed this year.
@Greg (Comment 10) : Hahah! I’m not sure any player dislikes sitting on a bench more than Bissie.
With this team announced surely it would make sense to let Botes,Daniel,Whitehead,Chavanga,Swiel etc play Vodacom Cup this weekend? Any news on when that team is announced?
@SheldonK (Comment 12) : they told me it would be announced 18 minutes ago 🙂
@gregkaos (Comment 11) : Kyle doesn’t like it much either, let me tell you that!
@robdylan (Comment 14) :
Well tell Kyle to quit whining.
He knows the order of things.
@robdylan (Comment 13) : Tick tock hahaha
@John Galt (Comment 15) : Or tell him to take it up with Bissie … He ll think twice I m sure …
@John Galt (Comment 7) : Disagree, Tim has not shown any real form since his injury……Williams has been impressive since making the grade in the senior side
Isn’t there technically 3 capped Springboks on the bench?
Adriaanse, Deysel, McLeod 😈
@SeanyJMc (Comment 19) : oh sorry, yes!
So no weekly or bi-weekly rotational nonsense then.just plane old continuity,amazing hey!
@benji (Comment 21) : Well that nonsense won us a CC trophy. 😎 Pros and cons for both.
Venter knows better than anyone how to implement a strict rotation policy and the result speaks for itself. Venters method obviously does not suit Jake which I don’t mind. I wouldn’t want Jake to change his methods to a system that he’s not strong/confident in.
Jake has also mentioned numerous times the importance he has learnt about rotation and how the lack of game time on his Brumbies bench proved to be the key factor in the final.
@gregkaos (Comment 22) : I need to ask you this and its only a question,referring to that CC final,the Sharks under BV had been trounced and exposed by those netball players twice in round robbin stages ,then in the final radical new tic tacs are employed and you don’t think the Great White had a major influence on this? I do
@gregkaos (Comment 22) : in the NH that might work with that crud rugby but in SH the top coaches of top sides go for continuity and change when injury induced or when playing weaker teams from mid to end of SR to allow rest for the players
@benji (Comment 23) : I honestly don’t believe Jake had an influence on the CC.
Which top coaches? Like the Dave Rennie (Chiefs coach) who uses a pretty strict rotation policy. Those 2 trophies in his cupboard seem to suggest something contrary to what you are saying. Crusaders have been using rotation for even longer I think. Ashley-Cooper has talked about the heavy use of rotation at the Waratahs but I don’t know what the official policy is there.
Say what you like about NH club rugby, they are tough and Sarries beat us without their best.
Anyway I’m happy with the way Jake is going about it. The next 4 weeks we’ll see a little bit of rotation followed by significant rotation.
“Most of the rotation and opportunities will come in that seven week block when we really need to start freshening up players.” – Jake White
We have not even started playing as a team. JW can stick with this team for the next 4 games by rotating the bench and giving bench guys some game time when the situation is favourable