The Sharks will take on the Lions at Ellis Park without a number of Bok players (e.g. Ox, Bongi, Siya, Grant, Andre, Ethan) due to rest protocols. Edwill van der Merwe and Aphelele Fassi will start with Vincent Koch on the bench. Thomas Dyer will get his second start for the Sharks at the back of the scrum. Interestingly Jurenzo Julius has been selected at inside centre and Francois Venter at outside.
(more…)The Sharks have now implemented the coaching changes that was hinted at:
Firstly JPP has now been appointed as the permanent head coach of the Sharks team. Scott Mathie will join as the new attack coach next season and as far as I can tell Warren Whitely, Philip Lemmer and Joey Mongale will retain their assistant positions.
Neil Powell will no longer look over the coach’s shoulder but will become the new Head of Junior Rugby.
(more…)JPP has been able to select close to his strongest squad for the rematch against the Stormers at Kings Park. Fez Mbatha is back playing between Ox Nche and Hanro Jacobs. Jason Jenkins moves to the bench with Corne Rahl starting. Phepsi starts in the number 8 jersey along Vincent Tshituka and Siya Kolisi. Grant Williams and Jaden Hendrikse swap jerseys this week with Edwill van der Merwe making his return to the team.
(more…)JPP has selected some of his best players on the bench (e.g. Ox, Vincent Tshituka, Grant Williams, Siya Kolisi). Phepsi has been selected at 6 whereas IMO he is our best 8. Jaco Williams gets another opportunity at 11 with Yaw Penxe / PK Sobahle bracketed for the other wing.
(more…)Coach JPP has selected a team with some of his first choice players (Ox, Bongi, Jenkins, Fassi, Jordan, etc) while resting big guns like Siya Kolisi, Vincent Tshituka, Grant Williams, Andre Esterhuizen, Ethan Hooker and Edwill van der Merwe.
The selections do make sense as the Sharks have little chance of qualifying for the round of 16 in the Champions Cup. They are still very likely to qualify for the Challenge Cup round of 16 by virtue of finishing 5th in their pool (unless Clermont can score 4 tries, keep the Sharks to fewer than 4 and beat the Sharks by more than 22 points). Clermont will very likely send a development team in any case and rest their key players for the Top 14.
(more…)I assume that JPP is saving his first choice players for the home game against Clermont next week. He has selected a B-team for the game against Sales Sharks. The Sharks franchise is taking this match so seriously that there is on early Friday evening still no team announcement on the official site. All that can be said is that the Sharks will do well to keep the score within 15.
(more…)Ox Nche is back to strengthen the Sharks scrum after surviving a hammering by the Bulls scrum two weeks ago. Likewise Aphelele Fassi makes a welcome return to the 15 jersey (Hakeem Kunene had a very good game against the Bulls). Phepsi drops to the bench with Manu Tshituka coming back into the team.
(more…)Coach JPP has gone for continuity with two changes – Hakeem Kunene coming on for Aphelele Fassi (concussion) and Jordan Hendrikse starting with George Whitehead dropping to the bench.
(more…)JPP has selected a pretty strong team (on paper) for the game against Saracens. The backline is filled with attacking players – the challenge will be to get them to gel. Interestingly he has chosen Andre Esterhuizen to captain the side. I am really looking forward to seeing the combo of Andre and Ethan in action.
The pack should also be competitive with Bongi anchoring Jacobs and Ganyane, a decent lock pairing and a strong back row in Phepsi, Siya and Vincent. Hopefully Emile van Heerden’s luck will hold this time and he can actually finish a game without injury.
(more…)The Sharks have selected a team with a number of key players rested. Against a team like Toulouse this will result in a mismatch equivalent to Wales vs the Boks. Really nothing more to say about this game.
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