Gary Gold
The Sharks Director of Rugby, Gary Gold has selected a 27-member squad that departs, this Saturday, for the Australasian leg of Vodacom Super Rugby tournament.
Commenting on the squad selected and the tour, Gary Gold said: “I have gone for 15 forwards and 12 backs, my selection was based on who is fit and healthy, but the nice thing is that there are a lot of guys who can play in different positions.
“We are looking forward to this tour. Tours are funny things, I’ve seen teams in far worse positions than us fight to get back and we not giving up the fight. I believe in this group of guys and I am keen to work with them in adverse times – that’s when you see true warriors come out.
“That’s our challenge: we are down but we’re not out and now is the time to stand up and fight back. If we come back fighting in the last six games, we’ll salvage a lot of respect”, he added.
Cell C Sharks squad:
Forwards: Lourens Adriaanse, Willem Alberts, Mouritz Botha, Renaldo Bothma, Dale Chadwick, Marcell Coetzee, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Stephan Lewies, Franco Marais, Tendai Mtawarira, Lubabalo Mtyanda, Etienne Oosthuizen, Matt Stevens, Marco Wentzel.
Backs: Lionel Cronje, André Esterhuizen, Conrad Hoffmann, Waylon Murray, Lwazi Mvovo, Odwa Ndungane, JP Pietersen, Cobus Reinach, S’bura Sithole, Francois Steyn, Stefan Ungerer, Fred Zeilinga.
The Sharks were dealt a cruel blow on the eve of their departure on a four-week Australasian Super Rugby tour.
Seasoned Springbok loose forward and Sharks stalwart Ryan Kankowski has been ruled out with an undisclosed injury.
Kankowski was pulled out at short notice, in mysterious circumstances, ahead of the encounter with the Lions a fortnight ago.
He also did not feature in the loss to the Bulls last week.
Kankowski was initially named in the Sharks touring squad, which will depart for Australasia on Saturday.
However, half-an-hour later he was pulled out, without an explanation as to the nature of the injury.
The following players have not been considered for selection due to injury or suspension:
- Patrick Lambie
- Ryan Kankowski
- Pieter-Steph du Toit
- SP Marais
- Tera Mtembu
- Paul Jordaan
- Jean Deysel (suspension)