Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold has retained the same team to play the Waratahs on Saturday morning, having made no changes to the side that took on the Hurricanes last weekend.
It was a rousing display of commitment and passion and everyone involved will be hoping they repeat that, sort out the areas of their own they have identified, and contain a very big and physical Waratahs team.
“There is a lot of pride at stake,” said Gold of this match. “We’ve been bitterly disappointed this year, for various reasons, and it’s important for us to show that we’re still in this fight to the end.”
Assessing the Waratahs strengths and threats, he immediately points to their physicality.
“They’re a very physical team, probably the most physical Australian team. We saw what the Force did to them on the weekend by matching them from a physical point of view, so that’s the challenge for us.
“And then the likes of Beale, Folau and Ashley-Cooper – they have some fantastic play-makers in the backline. A big strong pack but they move the ball well so we’re really going to have to get our defensive shape right. Their front row has played probably 80 or 90 times together and all of them Wallabies. Then you add the likes of Will Skelton (140kg) into the mix, Dave Dennis and others, you can see why they’re the reigning champions.
“They’re a formidable team, 1 through 15, they’re a very well-balanced team with threats everywhere; this is possibly our toughest challenge to date.”
Cell C Sharks: 15 Lwazi Mvovo, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Etienne Oosthuizen, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Marco Wentzel (Captain), 4 Stephan Lewies, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Kyle Cooper, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Waylon Murray.
Date: Saturday 16 May
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Kick-Off: 11:40 SA Time (19:40 AEST, 09:40 GMT)
Referee: Rohan Hoffmann
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner, Will Houston
TMO: George Ayoubx