Du Plessis ruled out of Brumbies clash
Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:26
Springbok prop Jannie du Plessis has been ruled out of the Sharks match against the Brumbies on Saturday as a precautionary measure.
Du Plessis was bracketed with Deon Carstens on the bench but has been withdrawn, after the Sharks management decided not to risk him further..
Sharks coach Dick Muir emphasised that his team were fully focused on the job at hand.
"We're not concentrating overly on the log, we just know what we have to do, and if we achieve what we've set out to, we'll get a home semifinal," Muir told sharksrugby.co.za.
"We'd like to reward out loyal supporters with a home semi.
"We know we haven't set the world alight in terms of bonus points, but the wins have been important for us," he added.
Sharks (confirmed): 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Francois Steyn, 12 Bradley Barritt, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jacques Botes, 6
Keegan Daniel, 5 Johann Muller (Captain), 4 Steven Sykes, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Deon Carstens, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 AJ Venter, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Waylon Murray, 22 Adrian Jacobs.
Date: Saturday, April 19
Venue: Canberra Stadium
Kick-off: 19.40 (09.40)
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand), Grant MacNeill (Australia)
Television match official: George Ayoub (Australia)
Assessor: Brendan McCormick (Australia)
