John Bishop

Durban - It was to be a celebration, his 100th Currie Cup appearance for the Sharks, but veteran fullback Stefan Terblanche has been dropped to the bench for Saturday's night’s outing against the Leopards at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium near Rustenburg.

The 36-year-old Terblanche, a former Springbok, has been a remarkable servant of Sharks rugby and in the past 12 years has played at wing, fullback and centre, while also captaining the team and leading them to the Currie Cup title last year.

His rugby career has spanned 17 years of provincial rugby - he made his Currie Cup debut for Boland in 1994 - but there have been signs in recent weeks that he has lost some of his edge and coach John Plumtree has replaced him with Sharks U21 fullback Gouws Prinsloo for Saturday's game.

If Terblanche is to make his appearance from the bench, he will become the first South African player to play 100 Currie Cup - and Super Rugby games for one Province.

Prinsloo, the 21-year-old former EP Craven Week player, is in his third year at the Sharks Academy, and Plumtree on Thursday described him as a player with potential. “He is a big talent for the future and I’d like to give him an opportunity,” said the Sharks coach.

Plumtree, still seeking his most effective centre midfield pairing, has dropped another veteran in former Springbok Marius Joubert and Adi Jacobs will start in the midfield alongside Meyer Bosman while Frederic Michalak is at flyhalf after starting off the bench against Western Province last Saturday. 

Conrad Hoffman takes over from the injured Charl McLeod at scrumhalf with Ross Cronje among the replacements.

Plumtree has not tampered with the pack. “It’s the same forward pack as last week. I’m pretty sure this year that I haven’t picked the same side for consecutive matches. That lack of continuity has been part of our problem. But we’re not worried about the past now, we’re looking to the future and that starts on Saturday.”

The Leopards have included a World Cup wing in their line-up in Danie Dames, who represented Namibia in the pool stages in New Zealand.

The match kicks off at 7.10 pm and the referee is Joey Salmans.

Teams:

Leopards:
15 Hofmann Maritz, 14 Danie Dames, 13 Charl Weideman, 12 Joubert Engelbrecht, 11 Vainon Willis, 10 Wesley Dunlop, 9 Johann Laker, 8 Robert Kruger, 7 MB Lusaseni, 6 Philip de Wet, 5 Brendon Snyman, 4 Brad Mockford, 3 Snoepie Coetzee, 2 Gavin Williamson, 1 Jean-Jacques Rossouw.

Substitutes: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Alfred Wauts, 18 Christo van Niekerk, 19 Spanner Pretorius/Siya Mdaka, 20 Liam Slatem, 21 Clayton Durand, 22 Jovan Bowles.

Sharks:
15 Gouws Prinsloo, 14 Sibusiso Sithole, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Conrad Hoffmann, 8 Keegan Daniel (captain), 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Jean Deysel, 3 Eugene van Staden, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Dale Chadwick.

Replacements: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Anton Bresler, 19 Jan Andre Marais, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Marius Joubert, 22 Stefan Terblanche.

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