Beast back for Sharks

Cape Town - Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold has named his team to tackle the Reds in a Super Rugby clash in Brisbane on Friday (kick-off 11:40 SA time).

The only change from the starting team that went down 33-18 to the Waratahs last weekend sees the return of Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira at loosehead prop in place of Dale Chadwick, who drops down to the bench.

Chadwick takes Matt Stevens’s spot among the substitutes, while Mouritz Botha also comes in on the bench in place of Lubabalo Mtyanda.

It will be the Sharks’ final game on tour, and Gold said it was important for them to finish on a high, having lost all their games on tour.

"You look at the players in their team - (James) Slipper, (James ) Horwell, (Will) Genia, (Lachlan) Turner, (James) O'Connor - these are really good rugby players, highly experienced internationals and this is a team going through a similar season to us. A couple of injuries, a couple of poor performances and they've found themselves on the end of a couple of bad results. But credit to them, they turned the corner last weekend against a good Rebels team and we know we're going to have our hands full this weekend.

"A really good performance and a win this weekend against the Reds is critically important for our campaign, and confidence."

Teams:

Reds:

15 James O'Connor, 14 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 13 Karmichael Hunt, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Chris Kuridrani, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 Will Genia, 8 Jake Schatz, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Adam Thomson, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 James Hanson, 1 James Slipper (captain)

Substitutes: 16 Andrew Ready, 17 Pettowa Paraka, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Ed O'Donoghue, 20 Lolo Fakaosilea, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Sam Greene, 23 Ben Tapuai

Sharks:

15. Lwazi Mvovo, 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. JP Pietersen, 12. Frans Steyn, 11. S'bura Sithole, 10. Lionel Cronje, 9. Stefan Ungerer, 8. Renaldo Bothma, 7. Willem Alberts, 6. Marcell Coetzee, 5. Marco Wentzel (captain), 4. Stephan Lewies, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16. Franco Marais, 17. Dale Chadwick, 18. Lourens Adriaanse, 19. Mouritz Botha, 20. Etienne Oosthuizen, 21. Conrad Hoffmann, 22. Fred Zeilinga, 23. Andre Esterhuizen