Sharks name side for Cheetahs

Cape Town - The Cell C Sharks team to take on Free State at Kings Park in their Round 3 Absa Currie Cup clash on Saturday shows some changes to the pack that featured against the Pumas last week.

Kick-off is at 19:10.

According to Sharks website Editor, Michael Marnewick, the backline remains completely unchanged, but among the forwards, there have been some changes, both enforced and rotational.

JC Astle has not been passed fit which means Etienne Oosthuizen reverts back to lock, opening the door for Francois Kleinhans who starts on the flank.

Upfront, Matt Steven starts ahead of Lourens Adriaanse and Dale Chadwick plays at loosehead in place of Thomas du Toit.

Two wins from two starts is just reward for the team’s efforts both on and off the field and they will be looking to continue their winning form.

“We’re very happy with where we are right now and the guys have been working really hard,” says coach Brad Macleod-Henderson.

“This a tough competition and fortunately we’ve got through the first two games, but we have another tough one on Saturday.

“In some ways, Free State are quite similar to us. They have lost quite a few players who have either gone overseas or are with the Springboks, so they are regrouping. After losing in the opening weekend, they got it right against Griquas last weekend, so we know we’re in for a tough game.”

There are plenty of positives to reflect on in assessing last week’s 34-17 defeat of the Pumas, although the coach admits there were one or two concerns as well.

“There were quite a few positives: I thought we defended well for large periods of the game. We also attacked with quite a bit of width, our handling was good and the breakdown was pretty good. Perhaps we gave away a few too many penalties and that first try they scored, a mauling try in the first 10 minutes, wasn’t great, so we’ve worked on those areas this week and looking forward to putting them right on Saturday.”

Teams:

Sharks

15. SP Marais, 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. S'bura Sithole, 12. Paul Jordaan, 11. Tonderai Chavhanga, 10. Fred Zeilinga, 9. Cameron Wright, 8. Tera Mtembu (Captain), 7. Francois Kleinhans, 6. Jacques Botes, 5. Marco Wentzel, 4. Etienne Oosthuizen, 3. Matt Stevens, 2. Kyle Cooper, 1. Dale Chadwick

Substitutes: 16. Franco Marais, 17. Thomas du Toit, 18. Lourens Adriaanse, 19. Stephan Lewies / Johan Meyer, 20. Conrad Hoffmann, 21. Heimar Williams, 22. Lionel Cronje

Free State Cheetahs

15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Rayno Benjamin, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Joubert Engelbrecht, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Willie du Plessis, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Jean Cook, 7 Neil Claassen, 6 Tienie Burger, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Dolph Botha, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld (captain), 1 Kevin Stevens

Substitutes: 16 AJ le Roux, 17 George Marich, 18 Henco Venter, 19 Vincent Jobo, 20 Shaun Venter, 21 Pieter-Steyn de Wet, 22 JP du Plessis