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Deysel to lead Sharks

Durban - Loose forward Jean Deysel will captain the Cell C Sharks in their Super Rugby clash against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Deysel takes over the captaincy from Bismarck du Plessis, who is rested on the bench.

With the heavy workload suffered by the Sharks and Springbok front row, Director of Rugby Jake White opted to start with Dale Chadwick, Kyle Cooper and Lourens Adriaanse.

Anton Bresler makes a welcome return to action and has been named alongside new-Bok Stephan Lewies in the second row.

Tim Swiel has been named to start at flyhalf with Frans Steyn reverting to centre, partnering S’bura Sithole in the midfield.

The bench, loaded with six Springboks, should provide plenty of firepower in the latter stages of this vital clash. Thomas du Toit, back from an outstanding campaign for the SA Under-20 side, has earned a call-up to the senior side, having featured in the Vodacom Cup for the Sharks XV earlier this season.

“The Cheetahs at home are a strong side, you can see that from their record,” White told the Sharks' website editor Michael Marnewick.

The Cheetahs have earned the scalps of the Bulls, Stormers and Brumbies at home this season and would love to finish their pool commitments with a flourish.

“They have knocked over some good sides at home and despite all the Springbok players they have from the weekend, it’s not really about the players they have in their roster, they’re simply a good team. We just need to make sure we prepare ourselves properly.”

Looking inward at his own team’s performances away from home this year, they had a highly successful overseas tour which resulted in three wins in New Zealand and Australia and a defeat of the Lions at Ellis Park.

“We have a good away record, probably better than our home record this year strangely enough, although it’s not something we are really concentrating on or giving too much attention to. We just want to make sure we win.”

Kick-off for Saturday's clash at the Free State Stadium is scheduled for 19:10.

Teams:

Cheetahs:

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Rayno Benjamin, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Coenie Ootshuizen, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Trevor Nyakane

Substitutes: 16 Caylib Oosthuizen, 17 Luan de Bruin, 18 Carl Wegner, 19 Jean Cook, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Shaun Venter, 22 Elgar Watts, 23 Hennie Daniller

Sharks:

15. SP Marais, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. S’bura Sithole, 12. Frans Steyn, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Tim Swiel, 9. Cobus Reinach, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Jean Deysel (captain), 6. Marcell Coetzee, 5. Anton Bresler, 4. Stephan Lewies, 3. Lourens Adriaanse, 2. Kyle Cooper, 1. Dale Chadwick

Substitutes: 16. Thomas du Toit, 17. Bismarck du Plessis, 18. Jannie du Plessis, 19. Willem Alberts, 20. Tera Mtembu, 21. Charl McLeod, 22. Odwa Ndungane, 23. Tonderai Chavhanga
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