Remember folks, we’ll have the Sharks playing the Western Force tonight in Cape Town in a Super 14 warm-up match. This is not the match thread for discussion of the game, the actual game thread will come later…

Teams:

The Sharks:

15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Luzuko Vulindlu, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Riaan Swanepoel, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Monty Dumond, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Steven Sykes, 4 Alistair Hargreaves, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements – from: Bismarck du Plessis, John Smit, Johann Muller, Jacques Botes, Charl McLeod, Andries Strauss, Odwa Ndungane, Patric Cilliers, Willem Alberts, Gerhard Mostert, Patrick Lambie, Adrian Jacobs, JP Pietersen.

Western Force squad:

Mark Bartholomeusz, Richard Brown, Ryan Cross, Matt Dunning, Tim Fairbrother, Sam Harris, Dane Haylett-Petty, Nic Henderson, Tom Hockings, Matthew Hodgson, Mitch Inman, Kieran Longbottom, Ben McCalman, James O’Connor, Chris O’Young, André Pretorius, David Pocock, Nathan Sharpe, Brett Sheehan, Cameron Shepherd, Richard Stanford, Mark Swanepoel, Joshua Tatupu, Ryan Tyrrell, Ben Whittaker, Sam Wykes, Joelin Rapana.

Date: Tuesday, January 26
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 19.00 (17.00 GMT; 01.00, January 27 WAST)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Matt Kemp (South Africa), Quinton Immelman (South Africa)

The Western Force expects the Sharks to be “direct” when the two teams meet in the second match of a Super 14 pre-season tri-series at Newlands on Tuesday.

However, he is confident that the more experienced combination he will be field against the men from Durban will be able to handle the physical onslaught from another South African team.

Following the Force’s 12-54 loss to a powerful Stormers selection at the weekend, Mitchell made it clear he will be fielding a combination resembling his best XV against the Sharks.

It means Springbok André Pretorius will finally make his Force debut, after missing the opening match of the series at the weekend – when Mitchell opted to field most of his fringe players.

Apart from Pretorius, the likes of James O’Connor, Ryan Cross, Nathan Sharpe, Matt Dunning and David Pocock are likely to start.

Mitchell, who has again declined to name a starting XV, confirmed that he wants all of his players to have at least 80 minutes under their belt before they head back to Perth for a third and final trial against the Reds next Friday, February 5.

Although Sharks coach John Plumtree has named a powerful starting XV, a substantial portion of the Sharks’ strength is in the 13-man bench.

Among those starting you will look to seasoned campaigners like Stefan Terblanche, Waylon Murray, Rory Kockott, Ryan Kankowski, Jean Deysel, Keegan Daniel, Steven Sykes, Jannie du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira.

However, with another six Springboks on the bench – Bismarck du Plessis, John Smit, Johann Muller, Odwa Ndungane, Adrian Jacobs and JP Pietersen – the Force will know that they are in for 80 bruising minutes.

“I think they’ll be direct and basic up front – they will be tough,” Mitchell said on Monday, when asked what he is expecting from the Sharks at Newlands.

However, the Force coach said they are not really focussed on the opposition in these warm-up games.

“We are more focussed on our progress as a team and seeing if we are able to reach our goals,” he told a media gathering in Cape Town, adding: “It gives us a chance to address some of the key issues from the last game [against the Stormers] and we now have a better idea of how the game is going.

“There are a lot of things that we’ve been able to work on and there is nothing like experiencing it in a real situation.”

Plumtree, who also dismissed the importance of the result, said that he will be looking at a few combinations.

“However, it is important to start playing, getting the players ready for the Super 14 tournament,” the Sharks coach said, adding: “They need the contact and they need the game time and this gives us a real opportunity to get that under our belt.”

Plumtree said he is fortunate that the Force are going to play a near full-strength side, as well as the Stormers (in the Sharks’ second outing on Friday), and as a result he is able to “mix and match a bit”.

Asked if he was looking at specific areas in the game, Plumtree said the new focus placed by referees on the breakdown will have an effect on how they approach the game.

“We’ll be looking at certain areas of the game that the referees will be focussed on,” Plumtree said, adding: “The breakdown law has changed completely in terms of the emphasis and it has turned around to more of an advantage for the attacking side.

“That is a big turnaround from the last couple of years where defences dominated the breakdown,” he said.