Golden Lions coach Johan Ackermann has named his 23-man side to take on the Blue Bulls in their opening Currie Cup clash at Ellis Park on Saturday.

In the forwards, Ackermann has opted to select Ruan Dreyer at tighthead after Julian Redelinghuys suffered a minor calf injury last week. Schalk van der Merwe and Robbie Coetzee make up the rest of the front row.

MB Lusaseni partners with Franco Mostert in the lock berths, while Jaco Kriel, Derick Minnie and Warren Whiteley make up the loose trio. Whiteley will continue to captain the side in Currie Cup.

Meanwhile, in the backline, Ross Cronjé starts at scrumhalf with Marnitz Boshoff his partner. Ruan Combrink and Lionel Mapoe fill the wing berths.

Harold Vorster will make his Currie Cup debut in the midfield, alongside outside centre partner Stokkies Hanekom. Andries Coetzee starts at fullback.

On the bench, Armand van der Merwe, Ricky Schroeder and Jaco van der Walt will all be in line to make their Currie Cup debuts.

New recruit, Howard Mnisi will provide cover and look to make his Lions debut, having signed with the union on Wednesday.

Golden Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Ruan Combrink, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Warren Whiteley (Captain), 7 Derick Minnie, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 MB Lusaseni, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Schalk van der Merwe
Replacements: 16 Armand van der Merwe, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Willie Britz, 19 Warwick Tecklenburg, 20 Ricky Schroeder, 21 Jaco van der Walt, 22 Howard Mnisi.

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From Durban comes the news that the Cell C Sharks side chosen to play Griquas in Kimberley in their opening Currie Cup game features a number of younger players mixed with older, experienced heads.

The other good news is that they have also decided not to continue with the boring Jakeball style of play.

Cell C Sharks director of rugby Jake White spoke a lot about the pace he had available in the form of S’bura Sithole and Paul Jordaan at the start of Super Rugby, but the Kings Park faithful never got to see much of that outside of in a kick-and-chase role.

It didn’t sit well with many Sharks fans, but the good news for them is that circumstance is likely to decree that the Sharks will go into the Absa Currie Cup season, which they start on Saturday with a potentially difficult away trip to Kimberley, with a different template.

With the bulk of the prime beef in the pack either having departed for overseas or now tied up with the Springboks, the strength at forward which is so necessary for the squeeze and suffocate technique to be successful is no longer there, and neither is the big kicking boot of Frans Steyn.

Previous Sharks coach John Plumtree often had to cut his cloth to suit his material during the Currie Cup season, and he used to do it successfully, with his team frequently topping the log playing crowd pleasing running rugby, and now it is incumbent upon Brad McLeod-Henderson to do the same.

One player who is looking forward to the likely switch of emphasis is centre Jordaan, who played well for the Sharks on defence and in pressurizing opponents during Super Rugby, but had limited opportunity to attack.

“I definitely think there will be more opportunities to attack in the Currie Cup and play with the ball in hand,” says Jordaan.

“We are trying to change the way we play. We’ve lost a lot of Boks (from Super Rugby), and most of them are among the forwards, and we don’t have the big ball-carriers that we did. So we are going to try and play with the ball a bit more. Keeping the ball more is definitely a strength as I see it because it suits my game.”

With JP Pietersen having returned to Japan and not available for the Currie Cup, Jordaan’s partnership with Sithole in the midfield could be key to the Durban team’s chances of retaining the Currie Cup they won by beating log toppers Western Province in last year’s Newlands final.

As White said back in March, there is pace to burn there, although Sithole could also be used on the wing and Heimar Williams included as Jordaan’s partner in the midfield.

The Sharks have also lost Lwazi Mvovo to the Boks, but Odwa Ndungane, who did not play much in Super Rugby, has plenty of experience and is a more than capable wing at Currie Cup level with great finishing ability.

So the Sharks’ quest in the coming months will be to ensure that the ball is spread to those players, an intention that might be helped by Steyn’s departure for Japan.

Great though Steyn was at the territory game and there really is no better kicker, he cut an incongruous presence at flyhalf and the Sharks’ attacking options were limited as a result.

Tim Swiel was tried by White unsuccessfully in Super Rugby but he has the skill set to provide what the Sharks will need from the position if he is reintroduced later in the competition, while Fred Zeilinga enjoyed a successful domestic season last year before Springbok Pat Lambie returned for the knock-out phase.

The problem area for the Sharks at the back will be scrumhalf, where they have lost both Cobus Reinach (Boks) and Charl McLeod (France). The former should be back for the knock-out phase, but Conrad Hoffmann, lured from the Brumbies, will be the only experienced No 9 available to them in the meantime and he has a history of being prone to injury.

Former national age-group and Bulls and Stormers flyhalf Lionel Cronje has also been added to the Sharks’ books for the Currie Cup.

“We’re very excited ahead of our Currie Cup campaign,” said coach Brad MacLeod-Henderson. “We have a tough start playing Griquas away in Kimberley and everyone knows it’s not an easy place to go and get a result but the guys are looking forward to it.”

“But we’ve had a good week’s training, there has been great energy, a lot of young guys, everyone is looking forward to playing – especially those who haven’t played as much rugby as they would have liked this year – so it’s a great opportunity and everyone is very excited.”

The defence of their title won in Cape Town last year gets off to a tough start against a side that is traditionally very strong early on, but it’s not a challenge of overwhelming concern.

The coach accepts that playing Griquas in Kimberley against a side that has been training and playing together for the last six weeks of the qualifying competition is a big ask.

“Griquas have probably had a bit more time to prepare than us, but we don’t use that as an excuse; we’ve trained hard this week, put a few things together and the guys are excited about playing, so they’re going to go out there and give it their all.”

“We’re looking to go there, put a mark down and hopefully put in a good performance.”

Cameron Wright is set to make his debut at scrumhalf while Matt Stevens, JC Astle, Hanco Venter and Lionel Cronjé will all feature for the first time in Sharks colours when they come off the bench.

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 Etienne Oosthuizen, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Marco Wentzel, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Thomas du Toit
Replacements: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 JC Astle, 20 Francois Kleinhans, 21 Hanco Venter, 22 Lionel Cronjé.