Cape Town - Sharks coach Sean Everitt has made three changes to their line-up for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship clash with Zebre Parma in Durban.
Everitt has again gone with a strong side which includes Springboks Siya Kolisi, Bongi Mbonambi, Thomas du Toit (vice-captain), Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Makazole Mapimpi and Aphelele Fassi, who set the Kings Park pitch alight last week. It will be Kolisi’s second official game in charge in the place of fellow Bok Lukhanyo Am, who is in Japan on a short-term deal approved by the Sharks.
Up front, Ntuthuko Mchunu will join the pack due to an injury to experienced prop Ox Nche, while there are two changes in the backline.
The Sharks' 37-20 home victory over the Scarlets took them to sixth position on the log, and another win this weekend will offer them the opportunity to climb higher up the URC table.
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Zebre, in contrast, took a 55-7 beating from the Stormers at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on Sunday and are yet to claim a win in the competition.
Everitt has made two changes to his backline, with Grant Williams replacing Jaden Hendrikse at scrumhalf and Ben Tapuai coming in for Jeremy Ward at outside centre.
Despite a struggling performance for the greater part of the match against the Welsh side, Curwin Bosch will remain in the flyhalf position. Everitt has, however, brought back Boeta Chamberlain among the replacements.
“Like any international competition, no team can be taken lightly. In this competition, no one can be taken lightly, we saw that when the Scarlets put 35 points over Glasgow who are in the top three of the competition,” said Everitt.
“Zebre are an unpredictable side that kick the ball really well, and although they haven’t done that well on the log, they gave the Bulls a good go for the first 40 minutes before the Bulls’ power game dominated them.
“But our focus is on our own performance at the moment, taking it week by week and we know that we need to get better and put in a better performance as a whole for 80 minutes.”
The match at Kings Park kicks off at 18:30.
Sharks Team: 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu 2 Bongi Mbonambi 3 Thomas du Toit 4 Gerbrandt Grobler 5 Reniel Hugo 6 Siya Kolisi (captain) 7 Henco Venter 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe 9 Grant Williams 10 Curwin Bosch 11 Makazole Mapimpi 12 Marius Louw 13 Ben Tapuai 14 Werner Kok 15 Aphelele Fassi
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren 17 Khwezi Mona 18 Khutha Mchunu 19 Le Roux Roets 20 Phepsi Buthelezi 21 Jaden Hendrikse 22 Boeta Chamberlain 23 Jeremy Ward.