Durban - Sharks coach John Plumtree has made a couple of late changes to the side to play the Southern Kings at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Friday evening.

According to Sharks website editor Michael Marnewick, Charl McLeod replaces Frederic Michalak at scrumhalf which means that Cobus Reinach is elevated into the match 24 where he will play off the bench.

Michalak has been found guilty for a late and dangerous tackle on Elton Jantjies in the Currie Cup final last year.

Due to the fact that Michalak left for France immediately after the final, his hearing was delayed until the start of this season. The Judicial Officer was Dekker Govender and the Citing Commissioner Freek Burger.

The hearing took place on Tuesday evening with the suspension valid for one week which makes him available to play as of 22 February.

This means he will be eligible to play against the Bulls in next week’s opening game but misses Friday night’s match.

Flanker Jacques Botes was also pulled out as a precautionary measure.

Botes has an infection on his leg and it was felt that a more prudent decision on his inclusion would be to rest him this week so he would be ready for next week’s Super Rugby opener.

“With the injury to Jacques Botes, it gives me an opportunity to play Marcell Coetzee at six where I think he could have potential,” said Plumtree.

The decision to rest campaign captain Keegan Daniel was about giving other players a chance with Daniel having already got game time under the belt in the pre-season hit-out matches.

“Keegan has played two full games, so I’m happy to give him about half a game and it gives Bismarck du Plessis an opportunity to captain the team which is good.”

Marcell Coetzee will now play at six with Lubabalo ‘Tera’ Mtembu brought in at seven.

Teams:

Kings: TBA

Sharks: 15. Riaan Viljoen 14. Odwa Ndungane 13. JP Pietersen 12. Tim Whitehead 11. Lwazi Mvovo 10. Patrick Lambie 9. Charl McLeod 8. Ryan Kankowski 7. Lubabalo Mtembu 6. Marcell Coetzee 5. Anton Bresler 4. Steven Sykes 3. Jannie du Plessis 2. Bismarck du Plessis (captain) 1. Dale Chadwick

Subsitutes: 16. Craig Burden 17. Julian Redelinghuys 18. Wiehahn Herbst 19. Pieter-Steph du Toit 20. Ross Skeate 21. Keegan Daniel 22. Cobus Reinach 23. Meyer Bosman 24. Paul Jordaan.