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Cape Town - Sharks flank Jacques Botes will equal the record for the most Currie Cup matches played when he runs out to face the Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Friday (19:10 kick-off).
Botes was on Wednesday included in the Sharks starting team and will equal former Free State centre Helgard Muller on 142 Currie Cup games.
He has played 115 games for the Sharks and 26 for the Pumas.
Sharks skipper Keegan Daniel will also achieve a milestone by playing in his 100th Currie Cup game for the union.
Speaking ahead of Friday's game, forwards coach Brad Macleod-Henderson said:
"It’s going to be another tough game against the Bulls away from home, they’ll be desperate to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the playoffs.
"Last week, they would have known that they needed three wins to get a semi-final place, and they played a fantastic game against Griquas to get the result they did. That will give them a lot of confidence, they have quite a few young guys in their squad and some previous results hadn’t gone their way, so last weekend’s win would have given them a big boost."
Backline coach, Sean Everitt, said:
"The Bulls put in an incredible performance against Griquas on the weekend. No-one else has been able to put that kind of score on them this year, and in Kimberley, Griquas are difficult so the Bulls were really good and we’ll have to be at our best at Loftus on Friday."
Teams:
Blue Bulls:
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Jono Ross (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Wiaan Liebenberg, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Substitutes: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Ulrich Beyers, 22 Sampie Mastriet
Sharks:
15. SP Marais, 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. Tim Whitehead, 12. Heimar Williams, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Fred Zeilinga, 9. Cobus Reinach, 8. Keegan Daniel (captain), 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Jacques Botes, 5. Stephen Lewies, 4. Peet Marais, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 2. Kyle Cooper 1. Dale Chadwick
Substitutes: 16. Monde Hadebe, 17. Danie Mienie, 18. Edwin Hewitt, 19. Marcell Coetzee, 20. Charl McLeod, 21. Butch James, 22. Louis Ludik
Botes was on Wednesday included in the Sharks starting team and will equal former Free State centre Helgard Muller on 142 Currie Cup games.
He has played 115 games for the Sharks and 26 for the Pumas.
Sharks skipper Keegan Daniel will also achieve a milestone by playing in his 100th Currie Cup game for the union.
Speaking ahead of Friday's game, forwards coach Brad Macleod-Henderson said:
"It’s going to be another tough game against the Bulls away from home, they’ll be desperate to keep their hopes alive of qualifying for the playoffs.
"Last week, they would have known that they needed three wins to get a semi-final place, and they played a fantastic game against Griquas to get the result they did. That will give them a lot of confidence, they have quite a few young guys in their squad and some previous results hadn’t gone their way, so last weekend’s win would have given them a big boost."
Backline coach, Sean Everitt, said:
"The Bulls put in an incredible performance against Griquas on the weekend. No-one else has been able to put that kind of score on them this year, and in Kimberley, Griquas are difficult so the Bulls were really good and we’ll have to be at our best at Loftus on Friday."
Teams:
Blue Bulls:
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Jono Ross (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Wiaan Liebenberg, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Substitutes: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Ulrich Beyers, 22 Sampie Mastriet
Sharks:
15. SP Marais, 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. Tim Whitehead, 12. Heimar Williams, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Fred Zeilinga, 9. Cobus Reinach, 8. Keegan Daniel (captain), 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Jacques Botes, 5. Stephen Lewies, 4. Peet Marais, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 2. Kyle Cooper 1. Dale Chadwick
Substitutes: 16. Monde Hadebe, 17. Danie Mienie, 18. Edwin Hewitt, 19. Marcell Coetzee, 20. Charl McLeod, 21. Butch James, 22. Louis Ludik
