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'Aerial duel will be key'

Johannesburg - One of the key contests in Saturday's match between the Sharks and Lions in Durban will be at the line-outs where, according to Springbok assistant coach Gary Gold, most tries in the Super Rugby competition have their origins.

"Plays from line-outs is still comfortably the main area where most teams' tries originate from," Gold said on his website on Thursday.

"In fact, 52 (which is 25 percent) of the 210 tries scored to date in this year's Super Rugby tournament have come from line-outs."

The Lions beefed-up their second row by bringing George Earl back to the starting line-up while also including former Cheetahs lock David de Villiers on the bench as back-up.

Their last line-out option is in utility forward Michael Rhodes who has provided second-row cover in most of the Johannesburg side's matches this season.

"It is all about controlling the space in the line-outs as we have shown what a dangerous team we can be with quality ball in hand," said Lions coach John Mitchell.

The Sharks will be without line-out specialist Alistair Hargreaves while he recovers from a shoulder injury.

This gives Gerhard Mostert the chance to build some form of partnership with Steven Sykes while Ross Skeate is back in the mix after regaining match fitness in the Vodacom Cup.

"We analysed our performance after the Stormers game, we picked-up that poor decisions were taken and a couple on execution, so it was our own doing," Sharks coach John Plumtree said of his team's performance at the set-piece during the match.

According to Gold, the area of play that is ranked second as far as try-scoring is concerned is from turnovers.

In that department the Sharks and Lions have several specialists and are equally dangerous on the attack from broken play.

Whether permitting, local fans may very well be treated to some spectacular five-pointers from ball lost in the tackle area.

"Third on the list are tries from scrums, which equates to 32 of the total tries scored so far this season or, in terms of percentage, 15 per cent." said Gold.

"This, in turn, shows that a solid scrum is still a platform from which to set up an attack." In contrast to the Lions who have not made any changes to their frontrow this season, the Sharks made the bold move of replacing Springboks Tendai Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis with John Smit and Eugene van Staaden respectively.

Mtawarira and Du Plessis were included on the bench.

Then, just to add some spice to a match that should be as hot as the best Durban Curry, there is the matter of how the Lions will deal with the big ball carriers in the Shark tank.

Flank Willem Alberts is proving to be one of the most difficult men to stop once he gets going, while it often takes more than one defender to bring hooker Bismarck du Plessis to ground.

Asked whether he has any special plans to deal with the big men in the Sharks squad, Mitchell said: "Its all about momentum. They love it. We want it."

Kick-off is at 7.10pm

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