Pumas bank on their Springbok

Cape Town - Pumas coach MJ Mentz has wasted no time in picking Springbok prop Vincent Koch in his starting team for their Currie Cup clash against the Sharks in Durban.

Koch, who made his Test debut this year, was released to the Pumas this week after failing to make the final 31-man Springbok Rugby World Cup squad.

He made his Test debut against the All Blacks in Johannesburg after a stellar Super Rugby season at the Stormers, to whom he was loaned for the competition.

Koch starts at tighthead prop in place of Khwezi Mona, who drops down to the bench.

It is one of three changes to the Pumas starting XV from the one which lost 41-11 to the Lions in Nelspruit last week.

Jaco Bouwer also replaces Marnus Schoeman at flank, with the latter moving down to the bench.

The final change to the starting XV sees Hoffmann Maritz get a first start, at centre, after playing two matches off the bench. He replaces Jerome Pretorius, who drops down to the bench.

Saturday's clash at Kings Park kicks off 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