Venter and Bongi back for The Stoep
Plum has selected a very powerful team for the EPCR Challenge Cup semi-final on Saturday. The loose trio look a lot more balanced with James Venter at 6 and Phepsi at 8. The back line is unchanged from last week. Cam Wright comes onto the bench for the injured Jaden Hendrikse.
The Sharks will have to up the concentration from last week. They manage to put together some spectacular plays interspersed with longer periods of pretty dreary mistake ridden rugby. The one worrying sign is the defensive gaps on especially kick chase that allowed Scarlets to make a lot of ground (and score eventually).
Not a lot of the Clermont players are familiar (no players in the current French international squad in there) but there is plenty of experience with international players like Rob Simmons (4), Tomas Lavanini (5) and Marcos Kremer (6). Clermont has racked up a big score (53-14) against Ulster in the quarter final but the Cheetahs managed to keep them closer (27-22) earlier in April.
I think the Sharks can do it even away in the UK, but they will need to mentally arrive for this game, and cut down the errors they make often at critical stages in the game.
- Ox Nche
- Bongi Mbonambi
- Vincent Koch
- Eben Etzebeth
- Emile van Heerden
- James Venter
- Vincent Tshituka
- Phepsi Buthelezi
- Grant Williams
- Siya Masuku
- Makazole Mapimpi
- Ethan Hooker
- Lukhanyo Am (c)
- Werner Kok
- Aphelele Fassi
Replacements
- Fez Mbatha
- Ntuthuko Mchunu
- Hanro Jacobs
- Gerbrandt Grobler
- Jeandre Labuschagne
- Cameron Wright
- Boeta Chamberlain
- Francois Venter