Jacques-Louis Potgieter has replaced Patrick Lambie in the Sharks team to face the Crusaders at Twickenham on Sunday.
The Sharks have added Eugene van Staden and Gerhard Mostert to their touring squad headed to London while JP Pietersen has also passed a fitness test and will fly out together with the team.
The Sharks are taking just 22 players to London with no back up players as they feel they can fly out an emergency replacement quickly if needed.
John Smit will again captain an almost unchanged side for possibly their toughest clash of the season and the only change is that of Potgieter replacing Lambie while Eugene van Staden adds front row depth off the bench with Craig Burden and Anton Bresler remaining behind.
Gerhard Mostert is named amongst the reserves along with fit-again JP Pietersen.
Looking ahead to the game, captain John Smit is enthusiastic at the prospect of this history-making event. “I hope we get a good crowd for this match because there are hundreds of thousands South African and New Zealand ex-pats living in the UK.
“Hopefully we’ll see more Black and White than Black and Red in the crowd.” he said on the Sharks site.
“There has been a huge amount of excitement about this game and people over there are hungry for Super Rugby and this is a wonderful opportunity for them to be able to support their teams in real life.
” I’m pretty sure it will be well-supported, not only because there are two good Super Rugby teams playing each other, but because it’s for a good cause.”
The Sharks
1. John Smit (Capt) , 2. Bismarck du Plessis , 3. Jannie du Plessis , 4. Steven Sykes , 5. Alistair Hargreaves , 6. Keegan Daniel , 7. Willem Alberts , 8. Ryan Kankowski , 9. Charl McLeod , 10. Jacques-Louis Potgieter , 11. Lwazi Mvovo , 12. Meyer Bosman , 13. Stefan Terblanche , 14. Odwa Ndungane , 15. Louis Ludik
Replacements , 16. Eugene van Staden , 17. Tendai Mtawarira , 18. Gerhard Mostert , 19. Jacques Botes , 20. Conrad Hoffmann , 21. Adrian Jacobs , 22. JP Pietersen
Date: Sunday, March 27
Venue: Twickenham Stadium, London
Kick-off: 16.00 (16.00 GMT, 17.00 SA time)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Stuart Terheege (England)
TMO: Dave Pearson (England)
good team pretty much as expected , must say i thought beast would be in the starting lineup with smitty on the bench to finish the match
JPP has made a very fast recovery
and this team is all about forward power , hope thats the right way to go
Good luck Sharks. Though like I have said on other blogs. We gonna miss Lambie. Hope JLP steps up for this game.
Not going to be easy playing Saders. They a awesome side.
MAKE US PROUD SHARKS.
I hope that the Sharks win this one.
I like Smit at 1.
Was a difficult prediction for this game. good luck to you guys
Ek weet hierdie is nou nie die regte artikel hiervoor nie, maar ek was die laaste tyd erg besig en kon maar net nou en dan inloer om ‘n artikel te lees.
Wil net vir die WP manne se baie geluk met julle span.
Julle was op die dag by verre die beter span, en ek het my geskaam vir my span !!! :shame:
Welverdiende oorwinning en geniet hom !!!
morning everyone
hmmm, went the way of the crusaders on this one, and feel like a traitor, lol
will
be interesting to see how the sharks handle the carter-williams-freuen combination (if all of them play) … this (on current form) may be the ab’s 10-12-13 combination that we’ll face later on
@ Loosehead:3 – Loosehead, Agree.
For this game we have to start with John. Well respected captain around the world. He knows the refs, they know and respect him. He is our trump card. Also he scrummed great last week against Chiefs. When he was on the Chiefs scrum was turning. I am a massive Beast supporter too. So yeah, it is always difficult to see Beast on the bench. But he too will be our weapon for us later, bring him on with fresh legs he will do plenty damage.
Just looked at a youtube on rugby365 and their you see SBW close up, man he is much bigger than he looks on tv…..hahaha. The man is bloody huge..lol. WE will have to mark him well.
Hope we can mate. Really mad that we have Walsh as a ref too. For this game on such a big stage both teams should have had a neutral ref.
Anyhow hope we see a good game.
Good luck to my Sharks.
@ Ashley:6 – Morning Ash,
Ja think plenty will go with Saders. I hope you all lose big time on bru……LOL.
I go with my heart. My mind says Saders my heart says Sharks. I am doing so bad on bru so not a worry for me. I will go with Sharks. Think Sharks gonna be up for it. Just hope we don’t get blown out the park by Walsh. I just don’t like this ref at all. Saders will be so tough to beat as it is.
J-LP has a huge chance to shine. To be honest he has been quite disappointing in the little game time that he has had so far. To be fair though wing is not his position.
Meyer Bosman has also made a huge impact at 12.
@ Loosehead:9 – Loosehead, to tell you the truth. I wish Lambie was going. I am a bit worried about JLP. BUT he will give his best no doubt about that. He will also know this is his chance to show what he has got. But it is a big stage for him to start. Feel for him a bit, but think he will want to show Plum he has what it takes. So hoping he has a good game. Lambie was on brilliant form when he got injured. Top point scorer in this S15 so far. He is a little gem of a player. For now we have to support JLP.
I am not so sure about Bosman at inside centre buddy. Think we miss Struass this year. But it also took Strauss a long time to play that great. So have to give Bosman more time. Though maybe once Pat is back give JLP a bit of game time at inside centre. See how that works out.
I did congrats to your Cheetahs. Brussow what a player!!!!!! Outplayed the Tahs almost on his own…hehe similar to what he done to my Sharks in 2009. Great to have him back. Good luck to Cheetahs against Reds.
This is a pretty big game for the Sharks…. Saders are looking ominous, as per usual..
Gooooooooooooo Sharks!
(spit, spit…. where’s my toothbrush and toothpaste… hehehe)
@ grootblousmile:11 – gbs..hehehe.
Saders by plenty…
JLP has not once played flyhalve for the past few months for any considerable amount of time, Sharks outside backs to be showed up by Robbie Fruedan, Stefan Terblanche really getting along now, starting to become a liability.
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