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Lewies returns to Sharks engine room

Cape Town - Stephan Lewies returns for the Sharks in what is the only change to their starting line-up ahead of Saturday's Currie Cup clash against the Free State Cheetahs in Durban. 

Lewies has recovered from the hamstring strain that kept him out of last weekend's loss to Western Province at Newlands and he replaces Ruan Botha, who drops to the bench. 

There are a number of players carrying niggles in the squad and, as a result, a few players have been bracketed with some late fitness tests set to take place before kick-off. 

"We've had a good training week and are determined to rectify our mistakes from our previous weekend's performance," Sharks coach Robert du Preez said.

"We have spoken this week about respecting the ball, cutting down our error rate and being more patient with ball in hand.

"Free State are playing good rugby at the moment and we will definitely need to show great intensity and intent on Saturday. It is an honour for us to play in front of our home crowd, and we want to make our fans proud."

The Sharks are top of the Currie Cup log with four wins from five while the Cheetahs are second, just a point behind, with four wins from four. 

Kick-off on Saturday is at 17:00.

Teams:

Sharks

15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 S’bura Sithole, 10 Inny Radebe, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Keegan Daniel (captain), 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Juan Schoeman 

Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 John-Hubert Meyer, 18 Ruan Botha/Jean Droste, 19 Jean Deysel/Francois Kleinhans, 20 Michael Claassens/Hanco Venter, 21 Heimar Williams, 22 Rhyno Smith

Free State Cheetahs

15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Rayno Benjamin, 13 Nico Lee, 12 William-Small Smith, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Henco Venter, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ox Nche

Substitutes: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Justin Basson, 19 Niell Jordaan, 20 Shaun Venter, 21 Niel Marais, 22 Michael van der Spuy

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