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Ndungane to start for Sharks

Durban - Sharks coach John Plumtree has made enforced changes to the team to play the Lions in Saturday's Vodacom Super Rugby clash at Coca-Cola Park forced on him by player losses to the SA Under 20 squad, according to Sharks website editor Michael Marnewick.

Centre Paul Jordaan and lock Pieter-Steph du Toit have both been called up for the Junior Boks for their campaign in the IRB Junior World Championship 2012 to be held in South Africa from 4 to 22 June and will miss this match which has necessitated some re-organisation of the backline in particular.

With Tim Whitehead still out, Meyer Bosman and JP Pietersen will form The Sharks centre partnership, with Odwa Ndungane coming into the starting XV on Pietersen's wing. The spot that opens up on the bench is taken by Marius Joubert while Jandre Marais comes in for du Toit.

Louis Ludik returns to the team after being forced to miss last week's win over the Stormers after dropping a weight on his foot and takes the place of Riaan Viljoen.

While there was talk of Plumtree rotating his team, it was decided that the confidence and momentum that has built up over the last month is a strength not to be tampered with as The Sharks look to go into their month long break from Super Rugby on a high.

A wounded Lions team await in Johannesburg - one that has lost 11 out of 12 games - and they won't need much reminding of how they raised themselves in the Absa Currie Cup Final last year.

For The Sharks, hanging over them is the sheer waste all their hard work in the past four matches would be rendered if they slip up against the Lions. Quite simply, too much effort has been put in for them to take the foot off the pedal.

Teams:

Lions:
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Butch James, 11 Anthonie Volminck, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Joshua Strauss (captain), 7 Grant Hattingh, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Patric Cilliers, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 CJ van der Linde

Substitutes: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Etienne Oosthuizen, 19 Cobus Grobbelaar, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Waylon Murray, 22 Ruan Combrinck

Sharks:
15 Patrick Lambie, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel (captain), 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Anton Bresler, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Jandre Marais, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Jacques Botes, 21 Marius Joubert, 22 Louis Ludik

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