Springbok Ashley Johnson has been left out of the Cheetahs starting line-up and will sit on the bench when the team travels to Durban to face the Sharks in a Super 14 Round Two match on Friday.
Johnson makes way for the inclusion of Frans Viljoen, who will start at No.8, together with Springboks Juan Smith and Heinrich Brussow making up a formidable loose trio.
As expected Lionel Mapoe shift from the wing to outside centre in place of the injured Corne Uys, with Danwel Demas starting on the right wing.
The only other change to the side that did duty against the Bulls sees Hennie Daniller climb onto the bench to fill the gap left by Demas.
While the axing of Johnson will raise some eyebrows, the burly loose forward has not been able to reproduce the form that saw him earn a Player of the Month award in the Currie Cup last year and a call-up to the Bok squad for the year-end tour.
In fact he was replaced relatively early in the Cheetahs’ 34-51 First Round loss to the Bulls in Pretoria last week.
The decision to shift Mapoe to outside centre, albeit necessitated by injury, is something Cheetahs backline coach Hawies Fourie has been contemplating for some time.
He wanted to use Mapoe at centre in a pre-season trial match, telling iafrica.com that he felt the Super Rugby rookie has all the makings of a great No.13 – despite playing most of his rugby on the wing.
The former Bok Sevens star, who also earned a Player of the Month award in 2009, was regarded as very unlucky not have received a call-up for the year-end tour.
Cheetahs: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Danwel Demas, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Frans Viljoen, 7 Juan Smith (captain), 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 David de Villiers, 4 Nico Breedt, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Hennie Daniller.
Date: Friday, February 19
Venue: Absa Stadium
Kick-off: 18:00 (16:00 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Pro Legoete (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Ag ek net sien hoe sekere outjies op “die ander site” nou weer gaan galbraak oor die R woord.
Viljoen is net soveel beter. Johnson het potensiaal en dit moet ontwikkel word, maar as Cheeters die naweek wil wen, gaan hulle hul beste ysters moet uithaal.
Seeing as no one has done the article yet, here goes the Sharks team………
The Sharks
15. Stefan Terblanche
14. Odwa Ndungane
13. Waylon Murray
12. Adrian Jacobs
11. JP Pietersen
10. Ruan Pienaar
9. Rory Kockott
8. Ryan Kankowski
7. Jean Deysel
6. Jacques Botes
5. Alistair Hargreaves
4. Steven Sykes
3. Jannie du Plessis
2. John Smit (Capt)
1. Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements
16. Bismarck du Plessis
17. Deon Carstens
18. Willem Alberts
19. Keegan Daniel
20. Charl McLeod
21. Monty Dumond
22. Andries Strauss
Check it out at 2….I can imagine our premadona throwing a panzy fit…looooooool
Fires, just put my 2c worth in at SW.
I like this team only wish that Muller was there or Mostert. Hope Hargreaves is okay there. Good to see Ruan at FH and to start. Very good to see John going to start at hooker our scrum will be stronger against a very good scrum the Cheetahs have. Hope Adi is okay at inside centre. Where is Swannie? Also would have liked Mvovo instead of Odwa. Otherwise we have a good team. Should win but Cheetahs played really well against the Bulls. Bulls were just too good for them but any other team may have struggled. So we must not underestimate Cheetahs.
Come GBS, Put a thread up with the Sharks Team. Fires already has put it up here.
Me too, on the Ricky thread I think…
Hi pumba 😆
Puma,
Yes I got your post there. Realy want to see the Sharks using Swannie and Rhodes, those two are realy talented…100% agree with Mvovo or Vulindlu instead of Odd-one. Hope Adi gets his top form again, hopefully he’s over his shoulder injury, I think that influenced his play alot last year, so lets see….Adi at top form next to Ruan next to Kockot behind a scrum with forward momentum gets me jumping with excitement….
Yes Cheetahs can’t ever again be underestimated by the Sharks, but I do now believe we’ve got their ticket…we’ll see the S14 Sharks on display Friday, not the first half CC team like Saturday.
GO SHARKS!!!!!
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