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Cape Town - Sharks coach Gary Gold has questioned the Currie Cup rule which sees match-day squads limited to 22 players.
The squads of 23 used in Super Rugby and in international rugby provide room for specialist tighthead and loosehead props while Currie Cup sides are mostly forced into selecting one versatile prop on the bench who can play on both sides of the scrum.
For the Sharks against the Pumas on Saturday that man will come in the form of Thomas du Toit.
Gold and the rest of the Sharks coaching staff have spoken about their desire to develop Du Toit into a specialist tighthead prop, but where the 20-year-old plays on Saturday will be determined by how the match progresses.
“The problem we have is, for the bizzarest reason, the squads are 22. I have no idea why,” Gold said in Durban this week.
“Under-19s are not like that... international rugby is not like that, Super Rugby is not like that... and yet there’s 22.
“If we had 23 we’d have two props on the bench and we’d be very clear as to what we want to do.”
Gold reiterated his desire to work on Du Toit’s game in a tournament that he considers to be extremely competitive in the scrumming department.
“Ideally we want Thomas to come through this period, we want him to use the Currie Cup which is actually from a scrumming point of view a particularly tough competition - arguably tougher than Super Rugby in certain games,” said Gold.
“It’s a work in progress and it’s going to take some time but the beauty is that he’s such a good player that when Thomas does come in on the loosehead he makes a big difference as well.”
The Sharks go into Saturday’s match at Kings Park having won two and lost two so far this campaign.
Kick-off is at 15:00.
Teams
Sharks
15. Joe Pietersen, 14. Wandile Mjekevu, 13. Paul Jordaan, 12. Andre Esterhuizen, 11. S'bura Sithole, 10. Lionel Cronje, 9. Cobus Reinach, 8. Philip van der Walt, 7. Daniel du Preez, 6. Francois Kleinhans, 5. Marco Wentzel (captain), 4. Etienne Oosthuizen, 3. Gerhard Engelbrecht, 2. Monde Hadebe, 1. Dale Chadwick
Substitutes: 16. Kyle Cooper, 17. Thomas du Toit, 18. JC Astle, 19. Jean-Luc du Preez, 20. Stefan Ungerer, 21. Heimar Williams, 22. Garth April
Pumas
15 John-Wessel Bell, 14 Bernado Botha, 13 Hoffmann Maritz, 12 Stefan Watermeyer (captain), 11 Rosko Speckman, 10 Juan-Claude Roos, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jason-Colin Fraser, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Jaco Bouwer, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Jacques Momberg, 1 Corne Fourie.
Substitutes: 16 Francois du Toit, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Khwezi Mona, 19 Lubabalo Mtyanda, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Justin van Staden, 22 Jerome Pretorius
