The Cell C Sharks team to take on Free State at Kings Park in their Round 3 Absa Currie Cup clash on Saturday shows some changes to the pack that featured against the Pumas last week.

According to Sharks website Editor, Michael Marnewick, the backline remains completely unchanged, but among the forwards, there have been some changes, both enforced and rotational.

JC Astle has not been passed fit which means Etienne Oosthuizen reverts back to lock, opening the door for Francois Kleinhans who starts on the flank.

Upfront, Matt Steven starts ahead of Lourens Adriaanse and Dale Chadwick plays at loosehead in place of Thomas du Toit.

Two wins from two starts is just reward for the team’s efforts both on and off the field and they will be looking to continue their winning form.

“We’re very happy with where we are right now and the guys have been working really hard,” says coach Brad Macleod-Henderson.

“This a tough competition and fortunately we’ve got through the first two games, but we have another tough one on Saturday.”

“In some ways, Free State are quite similar to us. They have lost quite a few players who have either gone overseas or are with the Springboks, so they are regrouping. After losing in the opening weekend, they got it right against Griquas last weekend, so we know we’re in for a tough game.”

There are plenty of positives to reflect on in assessing last week’s 34-17 defeat of the Pumas, although the coach admits there were one or two concerns as well.

“There were quite a few positives: I thought we defended well for large periods of the game. We also attacked with quite a bit of width, our handling was good and the breakdown was pretty good. Perhaps we gave away a few too many penalties and that first try they scored, a mauling try in the first 10 minutes, wasn’t great, so we’ve worked on those areas this week and looking forward to putting them right on Saturday.”

The defending champion Sharks may be unbeaten after two rounds, but they are looking to become a lot more clinical as the Currie Cup competition develops.

Sharks assistant coach Sean Everitt, in the build-up to their Round Three encounter with the Free State Cheetahs, admitted that they have been working hard on improving their attacking skills.

“We feel we are on the right track and we are very happy with our progress so far,” he said of their opening rounds – which saw then record a 31-24 win over Griquas in Kimberley in Round One and a 34-17 victory over the Pumas in Durban last week.”

“Griquas and Pumas were always going to be difficult teams to play against first up, but we have overcome that hurdle.”

Everitt felt that having started off the season with a new team – eight players are on Springbok duty and another handful have departed abroad – the guys have gelled quite well.

“We are very happy with the nine out of 10 points [that we collected] that were available to us,” the backline mentor said.

Obviously it is not going to get any easier, with a much-improved Cheetahs team up next.

“The Currie Cup is a very, very difficult competition, especially with the [Sharks’ many] Springboks out, which everybody has been talking about,” Everitt said.

“The Cheetahs, after a wobble in the first round [a loss to the Pumas], have come good.”

“We are aware of what threats they pose to us and we will have to be on top of our game if we want to win it.”

He said that he was happy with the way the guys have embraced the new playing patterns.

“We’ve had to adjust our game-plan from Super Rugby and the guys have adjusted quite well,” Everitt said, adding: “We have created opportunities among our backs, where we’ve had more attackers than defenders and we haven’t been finishing off those opportunities.”

“We have worked hard on that this week and if we can get that right we could see more tries being scored,” he said of a season that has seen then score seven tries and concede five.

While the focus has been on an improved attacking game, there is still the need for a balance between attack and defence.

“That is something we learned about last week [against the Pumas].”

“In the line-outs we had last week, in the first half, the majority we tried to attack from off the top. Once we had spoken to the guys at half-time and tightened things up, we got our maul going really well.”

“That [the maul] provided us with a bonus point.”

“It is a matter of balance, about where you are on the field – and not take too many risks in your own half.”

Cell C Sharks: 15 SP Marais, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 S’bura Sithole, 12 Paul Jordaan, 11 Tonderai Chavhanga, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Tera Mtembu (Captain), 7 Francois Kleinhans, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Marco Wentzel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Dale Chadwick
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Stephan Lewies / Johan Meyer, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Heimar Williams, 22 Lionel Cronje.