The Sharks play against the unfancied Sunwolves this weekend and coach Robert du Preez has taken the opportunity to rotate his players and in the process hand out two new caps.
The other big news is that Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira is set to become the most capped Sharks Super Rugby player, surpassing JP Pietersen.
Wian Vosloo makes his first Super Rugby appearance, starting in the 6 jersey while young lock Gideon Koegelenberg is set to come off the bench for his first taste of Super Rugby.
Curwin Bosch gets a first start for the season, replacing Lwazi Mvovo in the fullback jersey, while Makazole Mapimpi is back in the team in place of Kobus van Wyk. The rest of the backline is unchanged.
Most of the changes happens in the pack, with only Vermeulen retaining his place in the loose trio, Tera Mtembu and Vosloo making up the rest. The locks are unchanged while the front row sees starts for Akker van der Merwe and John-Hubert Meyer.
The bench sees the return to action for Chilliboy Ralepelle while Juan Schoeman and Ross Geldenhuys offer prop backup. Keegan Daniel is the reserve loosie while Cameron Wright, Marius Louw and Lwazi Mvovo cover the backs.
Thomas du Toit and Tyler Paul were both not considered for selection due to injury niggles.
15. Curwin Bosch
14. Sbu Nkosi
13. Lukhanyo Am
12. Andre Esterhuizen
11. Makazole Mapimpi
10. Robert du Preez
9. Louis Schreuder
8. Tera Mtembu
7. Jacques Vermeulen
6. Wian Vosloo*
5. Stephan Lewies
4. Ruan Botha (c)
3. John-Hubert Meyer
2. Akker van der Merwe
1. Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements
16. Chiliboy Ralepelle
17. Juan Schoeman
18. Ross Geldenhuys
19. Gideon Koegelenberg*
20. Keegan Daniel
21. Cameron Wright
22. Marius Louw
23. Lwazi Mvovo
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Sharke should still be too strong for the Sunwolves regardless of the changes made. Let’s just hope the ball sticks to the hands this weekend. Happy that Bosch is starting. This should provide some excitement.
@boertjie101 (Comment 1) : Sharks…
Whenever the Sharks have a shaky start to any campaign, they end up doing big things later on. Let’s go boys!
Probably our strongest scrumming front row at the moment. Keen to see how Vosloo goes – we need depth at open side.
Let’s hope the new players show that they’re hungry and ready for the challenge!!! Go Sharks!!!
I like this team. Like I said in the previous thread, some rotation but the big combos (Rob dup & Schreuder/Wright, Esterhuyzen & Am) need to be kept together to further their partnerships and understand one another better. Very glad that Akker and Meyer are starting as they need game time. Very happy for Vosloo as he had a good CC. Also think Bosch will add a bit more flair at the back, although Mvovo has been pretty good. Again I say we need to soften them up first and unleash the last quarter. I believe that we will win this one by 30+
Very good team this – must say looking forward to Akker starting and seeing the energy Keegs will bring from the bench – also good to see Chilliboy in the mix – go boys! Go Mapiiiiiiiiiiimpiiiiiiiiii score a hatrick!
Interesting to see how this pack goes as a forward unit is all about combos and dont think this combination has ever played a match together. If we are slack in the set phases and at ruck time the Sunwolves can make life very tricky for us. Backline looks good
@DuToit04 (Comment 7) : Fun fact. Mampimpi in Zulu means snitchers (plural)
I’m very excited to see how the team gets on. Hopefully Vosloo has a cracker and gives Rob some food for thought.
I’m excited to see how our scrummaging goes when Koegelenberg come on.
Excited by the changes and keen to see the boys fired up and focused despite the “easy” game ahead.
with vosloo at 6. I hope we can keep him there and make a genuine number 6 flank from him…. He really looked good there last year… imagine we still had marcell coetzee with the twins as the loose trio
@Poisy (Comment 9) : that’s good to know…so then he can snitch 3 tries on Saturday!
😉
@Darius de Lange (Comment 11) : that marcell + twins is a dream of many of us here…what a sight that would be! 😎
Still think the pack is too light and lacks that mongrel feel about it. In the last 10 years the Sharks have only done well if we have dominated their opposite pack. Our backline looks much more dangerous though and can been seen as our strength.
I hope the forwards put in a workmanlike performance at Jonsson Kings Park 😛
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 15) : when did that happen ❗
@Hulk (Comment 16) : Was released by the Sharks a bit earlier today
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 15) : Very clever 😎
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 15) : 😆 😆
All in all I’m very happy to see rotation being done this early in the season. It can only do both the starting 15 and the guys on the bench good in the end of the season. Bench guys get crucial game time, starters get some rest. Hope we consist with it.
Would like to see Louw from the bench again, we are going to need him to take some load of AE as Andre would surely be starting all the big games especially after that performance against the Tahs.
interesting selection
As someone whose a big advocate for use of full squads instead of just playing first choose players into the ground I find myself strangely wanting us to play the same team as last week with terra for keegs only cause we have built vrry little momentum over last three weeks in two games, we could have beaten the lions but in fairness they were just too good on the day and we Should have beaten the tahs but we got overly excited thinking we could run them off their feet in the final 20min as we likely had better fitness seeing as we had a week off and the tah sat in a tin box in the sky for 10 hour plus to get to durbs.
glad to see johnny and aker start, happy to see gideon, chilli ross in the mix on the bench, playing mapimpi against sunwolves is good while his still settling in.
we have a tough tour ahead of us guys so for this game, play clinical focused rugby and exploit the sunwolves when the opportunities are there.
that having been said, this sunwolves team looks better than last year and could give us a game.
In my view this is a very very good team, ok we know the loose trio is not the best we have but injuries dictating that right now, I have been asking for Vosloo in any case as I think he is built to play 6 and could make a good fetcher like Marcell.
Glad to finally see Tera starting at 8 hopefully this will lead to me more game time for the talent, Keegan has had his time. Also glad to see Curwin Bosch starting although I would have loved to see him play flyhalf. Also glad there’s no Thomas at tight head
Andre and Luke we’re amazing at 12 and 13 respectively
Who is Gideon Koegelenberg?
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 15) : Or maybe they all play like jonnsons again…
@coolfusion (Comment 25) : Sorry jonssons…
I actually don’t care what the line up looks like. As long as they play like a team that deserves to be in this league. Once they get that right I’ll worry about refinements.
@Simz Cele (Comment 22) : You really rate this guy. I seriously don’t. Injuries aside he has never seemed like head and shoulders above the rest player.
I think I’m getting myself confused here. What is the name of that young monster lock we signed who came out of school recently. Think he’s around 19 or 20 years old now. Keep thinking it’s Gideon Koegelenberg but can’t be.
@Hulk (Comment 29) : JJ van der Mescht
any good streams i can follow the rugby on tomorrow?
@coolfusion (Comment 28) : I really do just let him get regular game time that’s been afforded to other loose forwards at The Sharks and he’ll show you what he can do. Really talented No 8
@SeanJeff (Comment 30) : Thanks, that’s the one.
The Sunwolves even have an ex-Sharky playing at 15
15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Lomano Lemeki, 13 Sione Teaupa, 12 Michael Little, 11 William Tupou, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Kazuki Himeno, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Yusuke Niwai, 1 Craig Millar.
Subs: 16 Atsushi Sakate, 17 Shintaro Ishihara, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Wimpie van der Valt, 20 Lappies Labuschagne, 21 Yutaka Nagare, 22 Ryoto Nakamura, 23 Robbie Robinson.
@Simz Cele (Comment 32) : Thing is he has been given this at some point even made captain. In this series even Vodacom cup he had never really stood out and been an undeniable nr 1 choice. Let’s hope he stays injury free so we can see, but we don’t have a few years anyone who wants nr 8 must step up fast and be undisputed.
@DuToit04 (Comment 31) : I have started using Mobdro off my phone when travelling abroad.
@durbsguy (Comment 36) : THANKS – i will give it a go! 😎
What, did I just watch an entertaining Australian derby? 😯
Rebels showing they will be a dark horse in this competition, wrecked the Brumbies just now.
@Quintin (Comment 38) : Rebels looked very sharp and look to have some serious pace throughout the team. Brumbies were a bit woeful though
@SheldonK (Comment 39) : Yeah nothing seemed to go right for them. Rebels backline does look dangerous with ball in hand. Couple of easy on the eyes tries scored. Seems like dropping a team out of SR helped them, we can’t really say the same.
@DuToit04 (Comment 31) : http://www.vipbox.nu/rugby Always works perfectly for me.
@Quintin (Comment 38) : at this early stage rebels look like the best ozzy team, wow
@Quintin (Comment 40) : True, though we lose lots of players to Europe every year and the kings and cheetahs held on to some of their players thanks to the pro14 participation, so theres that to factor in.
Still a strong rebels team is good for oz as all their players are keen to live in Melbourne.
@coolfusion (Comment 35) : I only remember him having one good game, against the Crusaders when we were down to 13 and he was the only loosie on the field. He was sublime in that game, seemed to be everywhere doing everything. However, I have never seen him play like that either before or since.
@revolverocelot (Comment 43) : just our bloody luck that we have the Rebels away this year
@Dustin Emslie (Comment 41) : @DuToit04 (Comment 31) : Yeah I usually depend on VIPBOX, but sometimes their stream is poor and slow, and often crashes, along with too many ads. However for free, it is awesome. Here is another site kostatz.com he has all SuperRugby games, Internationals, and Currie Cup, he streams live and then has it available afterward for viewing as well. It is not free, $15 US per month which is reasonable in my opinion since he provides so many games. Payment is via PayPal and he is extremely quick to respond (name Tristan). Good luck.
I expect…no demand a big game from the forwards. Even if against minnows just to restore faith.
@coolfusion (Comment 47) : If that don’t we will really know their intent.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 44) : Ja me too. Has never really put his hand up. Time is running out. We must have some youngsters willing to fill the gap.
@coolfusion (Comment 49) : I’m excited to see how Vosloo does at 6, I think he could have a great future there for the Sharks, and we need a true opensider. Ginger is great, but let’s face it, he is a 7/8 but with the twins is filling the 6 role. He does well, but he is not a true opensider. I do find it interesting that he refuses to play Ginger at 8 even when Dan is out, perhaps he doesn’t want him to outshine Dan in that position?
@Dancing Bear (Comment 50) : Possible. Dan has not been more than average at 8.
Can’t wait to see Jean luc back in action though.
@coolfusion (Comment 28) : I really do hey just requires consistent game time at No 8! I’d also like to see Curwin Bosch playing 10 I really rate him the amount of talent he has for his age is impressive, just keep working on his defence that’s all
@Bokhoring (Comment 34) : Fun fact, Wimpie is from Komatipoort, was in the same class as my brother and I played in the first team with his older brother Hannes.
@Simz Cele (Comment 53) : Well I hope you are right we are looking really thin for a true 8. When he came on the scene I had great expectations for him. Like I said just has not taken the next step. I would like to see him running into spaces and creating opportunity for his backline I really wish it for him. He has the heart of a shark.
@Simz Cele (Comment 53) : Curwin just needs to sharpen his defense and tactical awareness. But that comes with time.