Sharks are looking for cohesion
The Sharks will be looking to the backline to overcome a much improved Eastern Province Kings team in Port Elizabeth this weekend.
They will be searching for back-to-back victories against the Kings in Port Elizabeth following their 33-25 first round win at Kings Park.
Two Springboks in Odwa Ndungane and Michael Claasens feature in the backline, while Paul Jordaan, Andre Esterhuizen, and Lionel Cronje have all represensed South Africa at Under-20 level.
Amongst the forwards, Gerhard Engelbrecht trades places with Thomas du Toit and will gain his first start of the campaign after two games played off the bench, in the only change to the entire starting 15.
The Sharks are aware that it’s not going to be easy after the Kings showed a much-improved performance against the Pumas last weekend, and they’re playing at home with its added advantages.
On the bench, JC Astle returns from injury while exciting young prospect Garth April is handed his first appearance for the Sharks.
For assistant coach Sean Everitt, a clinical, passionate performance is what he is hoping for from the Sharks.
He spoke about the short comings of last week's performance: “We didn’t execute our plan against them well enough in the first round, so while it’s important to have a plan, it’s how you arrive on the day, the energy you display and your accuracy in execution that really counts.
Everitt believes that the Sharks can turn their campaign around against the Kings.
“The Kings have improved as the tournament has gone on. They had a shaky start against the Lions, but played well against us and were probably a bit unlucky to lose to the Pumas last weekend, so they are no easy prey down in Port Elizabeth.
“We need to improve on what we’ve done over the last three weeks and we have to take the lessons learned out of the game against EP in Durban two weeks ago,” added Everitt.
Sharks: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 S’bura Sithole, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Daniel du Preez, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Marco Wentzel (Capt), 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Gerhard Engelbrecht, 2 Monde Hadebe, 1 Dale Chadwick.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 JC Astle, 19 Jean-Luc du Preez, 20 Stefan Ungerer, 21 Wandile Mjekevu, 22 Garth April
Date: Saturday, August 29
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 19.05 (17.05 GMT)
Referee: Jaco van Heerden
Assistant referees: Jaco Pretorius, Jacques Nieuwenhuis
