Rassie has backed a number of the Boks (including Handre Pollard) who won the World Cup last year. He has gone with a 6-2 bench with the versatile Grant Williams and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu covering all the back line positions between them.
(more…)Phepsi Buthelezi, Aphelele Fassi, Andre Esterhuizen and Grant Williams have all been retained in the Bok squad with the other regular Shark Boks (Ox, Bongi, Koch, Etzebeth, Am and Mapimpi). New Shark Trevor Nyakane is also in the squad. Nuthuko Mchunu and Ethan Hooker are part of the standby list and will have some training sessions with the squad over the next four weeks.
It will be interesting to see who is appointed as captain with Siya Kolisi also back in the mix.
(more…)Two of the new Sharks signings (Hendrikse (debut) and Esterhuizen) will start against Wales in London. Edwill van der Merwe (starting 14), Ben-Jason Dixon and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will also make their debuts in this game.
(more…)Plum has selected close to the strongest available team to face the Bulls this Saturday. Eben Etzebeth, Grant Williams and Makazole Mapimpi have also been added to the injury list. This game will be the last game for Werner Kok and Boeta Chamberlain for the Sharks (at least at this level – not sure if they would still be available for the Currie Cup).
(more…)A strong Hollywoodbets Sharks team was named to take on Gloucester on Friday night at 21h00 for the EPCR Challenge Cup Final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
(more…)Given the importance of arriving early for the Challenge Cup final next Friday the coaching team has selected a Currie Cup quality team with a number of rusty players (out of the entire back line only Diego Appollis and Boeta Chamberlain had some limited game time in recent weeks).
(more…)Plum has selected close to the strongest available team (given injuries) but is experimenting with Vincent Tshituka at number 8 and Gerbrandt Grobler at 7. I am not a fan of this trio but with Phepsi Buthelezi, Emile van Heerden and George Cronje out injured this is probably the best case scenario. An alternative could have been Tino Mavesere at 6, Vincent at 7 and James Venter at 8.
(more…)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.
(more…)Plum has selected a very strong team for the Scarlets game this coming Friday night. Ox, Etzebeth, Mapimpi, Am, Kok and Fassi will all start with Hendrikse moving back on the bench.
The Sharks have a bit of an openside flank crisis at the moment with both James Venter and Dylan Richardson out injured. Phepsi will have to fill the role while Vincent Tshituka moves into the 8 position. Not sure why Masevere was not rather looked at? Bongi is still not available (Sharks will need him in next week’s semi) so Fez Mbatha will start. Boeta Chamberlain gets another opportunity from the bench.
(more…)Plum has decided to rest a number of his first choice players for Friday night’s game against the Warriors. Nick Hatton will feature behind the scrum with Curwin Bosch getting a start at 10, Murray Koster at 13 and Boeta Chamberlain at 15. Vincent Koch, Vincent Tshituka, Siya Masuku and Ethan Hooker will provide reinforcement from the bench later in the game.
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