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Sharks to say cheers in style

Christo Buchner

Johannesburg – The Sharks will have the opportunity of finishing their Super 14 campaign on a high when they take on the Western Force in their Super 14 match in Durban on Friday night.

While there is not much more than pride on the line for the Sharks, coach John Plumtree believes they have more than enough motivation.

“Two of the players leaving us – Johann Muller and Deon Carstens – will be with the side for the last time and I believe the players will want to say farewell in style,” he said.

The Sharks also want to make up for the humiliating 0-24 defeat to the Force in a warm-up game earlier in the year.

Plumtree says he’s very proud of the character his side showed since their five consecutive defeats at the start of the Super 14.

“It will be fantastic if we can beat the Force to make it our seventh win in eight games. It will be much better than our effort in the second half of last year’s campaign,” he said.

“There was even talk that we might end last and that the team was falling apart, but that never happened. We held our heads high and kept on fighting until the end.

“Our poor start really cost us and we cannot afford something like that again.”

Sharks v Western Force, Durban 19:10

Sharks:
15. Patrick Lambie , 14. Odwa Ndungane , 13. Stefan Terblanche , 12. Riaan Swanepoel , 11. Lwazi Mvovo , 10. Ruan Pienaar , 9. Rory Kockott  , 8. Ryan Kankowski , 7. Jean Deysel , 6. Jacques Botes , 5. Alistair Hargreaves , 4. Steven Sykes , 3. Jannie du Plessis , 2. John Smit (captain) , 1. Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16. Craig Burden , 17. Patric Cilliers , 18. Wilhelm Steenkamp , 19. Keegan Daniel , 20. Charl McLeod , 21. Andy Goode , 22. Andries Strauss

Western Force:
15. James O’Connor, 14. Nick Cummins, 13. Mitch Inman, 12. Ryan Cross, 11. Cameron Shepherd, 10. David Hill, 9. Brett Sheehan, 8. Richard Brown, 7. David Pocock, 6. Matt Hodgson, 5. Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4. Ben McCalman, 3. Tim Fairbrother, 2. Ben Whittaker, 1. Pek Cowan

Substitutes: 16. Nathan Charles, 17. Matt Dunning, 18. Sam Wykes, 19. Tom Hockings, 20. Justin Turner, 21. Sam Harris, 22. Mark Bartholomeusz

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