Nick Hatton will captain the Sharks for the URC opening game against the Ospreys. New signings Darrien Landsberg and Suleiman Hartzenberg feature in the starting lineup with Ivan van Zyl on the bench. Vusi Moyo will run the show from 10 with Jaden Hendrikse next to him. The Sharks plan to get the maximum out of Luan Giliomee before he joins the Bulls in December. Exciting but still raw talent Zekhethelo Siyaya is on the bench.
(more…)Rassie has started to rate Andre Esterhuizen much higher of recent. So much so that he has named him as captain of the Boks against Australia in Perth – even though Handre Pollard and Eben Etzebeth are both in the starting team.
The team has been rotated heavily but Rassie has still kept his best front row plus Lood de Jager and Jasper Wiese on the bench for just in case. I would have much rather had Cameron Hanekom starting at 8 than Marco van Staden. The Aussies have some very fast loose forwards with Fraser McReight and Harry Wilson up there with the best jacklers in the world.
(more…)JPP has mixed up his squad for the warm-up against the Lions on Friday. The Hendrikse brothers are back running the show with only Luan Giliomee, .Phepsi Buthelezi, Corne Rahl retaining their jerseys from last week and Litelihle Bester starting but moving to wing. It does not look like the match will be televised.
(more…)Rassie has kept the changes to a minimum with Damian Willemse coming back in for the injured Cheslin Kolbe and Morné van den Berg swapping places with Cobus Reinach. I would have liked Manie Libbok at 10 – the Bok attack just looked so much better with him running the show. Van den Berg really tried to cover every blade of grass (in attack and defense) when he came on – will be interesting to see how he paces himself over a longer period.
(more…)Interestingly the Sharks keep including Luan Giliomee in teams even though he set to join the Bulls in December. In the past they would have allowed an early release – now they are making full use of him while short on full back cover. The game is in George on Friday night and will not be televised.
I have not been a fan of Ross Braude but after his recent form in the Currie Cup I would think he deserves a go in the URC team.
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