DURBAN – Two Springboks have been added to the Sharks squad which takes on the Blue Bulls in Saturday's Currie Cup match at Loftus Versfeld.
The Sharks are desperate to push for a semifinal spot.
The team will undoubtedly be bolstered by the inclusion of prop Thomas du Toit and centre Andre Esterhuizen who earlier this week were released from the Springbok squad.
It's unlikely they will make the World Cup squad and probably end up in the group which will be on standby in the event of injuries.
Du Toit takes over from Mzamo Majola who plays off the bench, while Esterhuizen will feature at centre, with co-captain Jeremy Ward shifting to the No 13 jersey and JP Pietersen taking a place among the reserves.
In the other change to the starting line-up, Coenie Oosthuizen returns after missing last week’s victory over the Golden Lions due to injury.
The Cell C Sharks team to face the Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in the final Currie Cup clash of the pool stages .
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Coach Sean Everitt has added another debutant to the fray after last week’s glowing first match for the Sharks, Boeta Chamberlain. Andisa Ntsila has been named on the bench and is poised to be the latest debutant to wear the black and white jersey.
After two wins – albeit tight victories – the Sharks have worked their way into a healthy position on the log with the very real chance of securing a home semifinal should they defeat the Blue Bulls and a couple of other results go their way.
“The team is in a good space right now and hopefully everything falls into place with this last game,” explained wing Kobus van Wyk.
“We’re almost there as a team, small margins have cost us a bit in terms of our rhythm, but everyone has bought into what coach Sean has put together as a campaign and in the games we lost, we lost track of the game plan.”
“This is going to be a determined Bulls team, so we need to go out there and do what we have been doing for the last two weeks.
"We have the team to do it, we just need to do it. The past three or four weeks have been finals rugby for us, we’ve had to win every game and the team has grown immensely in that time.”
The Sharks team:
15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Jeremy Ward (co-captain), 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Tera Mtembu (co-captain), 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 Gideon Koegelenburg, 20 Andisa Ntsila, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Rhyno Smith, 23 JP Pietersen