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Cape Town - The Sharks have been dealt a massive blow with the news that captain Keegan Daniel has been ruled out of Saturday's Currie Cup clash against Free State with an abdominal strain.
Daniel will be replaced as captain by Philip van der Walt.
But the injury woes do not stop there for the Durbanites, as they announced even more changes to their team on Friday.
Lock Stephan Lewies, who was due to make his return to the starting line-up after a hamstring injury, has been left out once more and give extra time off to recover.
The Sharks will also be without bruising loose forward Jean Deysel, who had been bracketed to start on the bench but now drops out of the squad altogether with a hip injury.
The good news is that the experienced scrumhalf Michael Claassens has been passed fit and will wear the number 20 jersey.
The Sharks go into the match top of the Currie Cup standings with 20 points from five matches, just one point ahead of the Cheetahs, who have won four from four this season.
Kick-off on Saturday is at 17:00.
Teams:
Revised Sharks team
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 (c), 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Juan Schoeman
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 John-Hubert Meyer, 18 Jean Droste, 19 Khaya Majola, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Wandile Mjekevu, 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
