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Durban - The Sharks have rested Springbok prop Tendai Mtawarira for Saturday's clash against the Stormers in Cape Town.
The Sharks are desperate for a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, but the 32-year-old veteran was ever-present for the Springboks in their 2-1 series win over England in June and was then in the side that beat the Lions in Johannesburg last weekend.
Mtawarira's place in the side will be taken by Juan Schoeman.
There is further rotation at scrumhalf where Cameron Wright moves to the bench for Louis Schreuder, who starts.
At flank, the Sharks go in without the injured Jean-Luc du Preez, who is replaced by Jacques Vermeulen.
The good news for the Durbanites is that Springbok wing S'bu Nkosi returns to the starting line-up having pulled out just before last weekend's clash against the Lions with a late injury.
Lwazi Mvovo retains his place while Makazole Mapimpi drops out of the squad entirely.
Thomas du Toit, meanwhile, will earn his 50th Super Rugby cap.
"That win over the Lions was a great game for us, we’re very happy with the result," centre Andre Esterhuizen said.
Of the Stormers, Esterhuizen admitted that it won’t be easy against a side playing for nothing but pride.
"It’s their last game, a home game and because they haven’t had a great year, we know they will throw everything at us. They have nothing to lose and will want to finish the tournament off on a positive.
It’s going to be tough, we expect a lot from them."
Kick-off in Cape Town on Saturday is at 17:15.
Teams:
Stormers
TBA
Sharks
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 S’bu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Philip van der Walt, 5 Ruan Botha (captain), 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Juan Schoeman
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Beast Mtawarira, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Wian Vosloo, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Kobus van Wyk
