'New' Sharks swim in Currie Cup sea
Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:17
It will be a new-look Sharks team that will travel to Wellington on Friday to meet the Boland Cavaliers in a Currie Cup Round Nine match.
Coach John Plumtree will be without the services of Springboks Odwa Ndungane and Jannie du Plessis - both recalled to the national team for Tri-Nations duty - injured captain Johann Muller and scrumhalf Scott Mathie, now playing for Leeds Carnegie.
However, the player losses are offset by the return of scrumhalf Rory Kockott and prop Patric Cilliers from injury.
Charl McLeod will start his first Currie Cup game for the Sharks in the No.9 jersey, having played off the bench in six previous matches.
Described by his coach as "an exciting, attacking player," he will relish the opportunity of starting this week.
Cilliers makes a welcome return after setting the scene alight a year ago, before sustaining a long term knee injury. He earned some game time for the Wildebeest during the Vodacom Cup and then played for the Under-21 team against Griquas a few weeks back - ensuring he got back to full fitness.
With the expectation of a wet and slow field and an opposition hell-bent on causing an upset, the Sharks are only too aware that underestimating the opposition or fixture would be to their detriment.
Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Chris Jordaan, 13 Riaan Swanepoel, 12 Bradley Barritt (captain), 11 Waylon Murray, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Albert van den Berg, 3 Deon Carstens , 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Patric Cilliers.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Melusi Mthethwa, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Skholiwe Ndlovu, 20 Rory Kockott, 21 Andries Strauss, 22 Monty Dumond.
Date: Friday, August 29
Venue: Boland Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 16.00 (14.00 GMT)
Referee:
Jonathan Kaplan
Touch judges: Joey Salmans, Linston Manuels
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
