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Of late, Elstadt has been off the radar at Newlands but he was named in the side ahead of the highly-fancied Nick Koster who stepped into the breach last week when flanker Francois Louw was on duty with the Springboks.
The Johannesburg-born Elstadt was raised in the Winelands and after he graduated through Boland's junior ranks. He played for South Africa at the IRB Junior World Championships in Japan last year.
Province coach Allister Coetzee has on occasions used Elstadt with success in earlier Currie Cup matches this season at flank although he played most of his junior rugby at lock.
Earlier this year, Coetzee spoke of the player's contribution as a flank.
"Elstadt has played most of his junior rugby at lock, he will add brute force at loose forward," said Coetzee.
It's likely the "brute force" that Coetzee wants to tap into because the Sharks have built up a reputation as being the most physical side in domestic rugby.
The last time these two provinces met was in May for a Super 14 clash in Durban and the build-up to the match was entirely dominated by expected physicality of the Sharks, who went on to win 20-10.
Brining in a retreaded lock to play flank will add grunt to the Province tight-five who have grown in stature all season and they have been relied on to bear the brunt of the team's championship hopes at a time when almost their entire backline are away with the Boks in the Tri-Nations.
"Elstadt is a rucker, an abrasive player," said Coetzee. "What you need at the beginning of a tight game against the Sharks - when you're playing against a Super 14 pack which is almost a Springbok tight five, you must make sure you keep your ball.
"In a match like this you don't need guys to stand out and run, you need guys to go and ruck and in my opinion Elstadt is more mature physically (than Koster) . I feel he is stronger than Nick at this stage.
"Once the game is a bit open, that's the time when you bring Koster on, instead of the other way around. Elstadt is not the sort of player you would expect to come on and make an impact late in the game, whereas Koster can do that.
"Koster started against a helluva physical Blue Bulls pack and he played very well. I was really excited to see Koster getting stuck in.
We've said that any youngster who wants to make it in rugby has got to show us against a team like the Bulls. He showed that he's got a long career ahead of him."
Despite his concerns about the looming showdown with the most physical pack in the competition Coetzee has not gone overboard with by ensuring more of the same on his substitutes bench. In past weeks, Coetzee has had five forwards but this time he'll have only four to call on.
"We are anticipating that the Sharks will come at us with a fast game and mobility is going to be important, and we have considered that with the players on the bench," said Coetzee. "Against the Bulls (last week) we were expecting a hard, physical confrontation, which it was. The Sharks are also physical, but the way they have been playing, they pose a different kind of challenge to that which was posed by the Bulls."
