By Gavin Rich.
The anticipated rest being given to a clutch of Springbok players as they head into a month of holiday has seen the Cell C Sharks make five changes for Saturday evening’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with Edinburgh.
Out of the team that lost 39-29 to the Harlequins in last week’s Heineken Champions Cup clash at The Stoop in in London go four Springboks in the form of Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Lukhanyo Am and Jaden Hendrikse. Vincent Tshituka, who was injured early in last week’s game, sees Henco Venter come in on the side of the scrum in the other change.
Etzebeth is replaced by Hyron Andrews, James Venter takes over from Kolisi, Grant Williams is in for Hendrikse and Francois Venter, himself a Bok, comes in for Am in the No 13 jersey. Further players missing are injured Bok Bongi Mbonambi and the suspended Makazole Mapimpi, both of whom have been out since the third round home Champions Cup clash with the Bordeaux Begles.
However, while that seems to be a lot of players out, the team to take the field at the DAM Health Stadium is still a relatively strong one. For a start, one of the players who has played a lot for the Boks recently who is playing this week is prop Ox Nche. And Thomas du Toit it there too, although this week he isn’t the alternative captain. Phepsi Buthelezi takes those reins this week, with the No 8 replacing Kolisi as the official leader of the team.
It will be interesting to see which further players may drop out once the Sharks get into the real start of the resting protocols next week – there are additional players tied to that – but there is enough experience mixed with quality in this group to win on Sunday. That is of course taking into account the fact that Edinburgh will be losing a lot of players to the Scotland Six Nations preparations.
With both teams understrength, the Sharks have a good chance of picking up the much needed win they require in order to move into a comfortable position in the top eight, which guarantees play-off qualification as well as significantly boosting their chances of comfortably qualifying for next year’s Champions Cup.
The Sharks are currently ninth, a full 16 points, meaning four wins without bonus points or three wins with bonus points plus a losing bonus point in a fourth fixture, behind the DHL Stormers, who apart from being champions in the competition also head the South African Shield battle. The Sharks do have a game in hand on the Stormers, and two on the Bulls, who are nine point ahead of them. But they can’t afford to lose too many more if they want to be in Shield contention.
Cell C Sharks team: Aphelele Fassi, Marnus Potgieter, Francois Venter, Ben Tapuai, Thaakir Abrahams, Curwin Bosch, Grant Williams, Phepsi Buthelezi (captain), Henco Venter, James Venter, Gerbrandt Grobler, Hyron Andrews, Thomas du Toit, Kerron van Vuuren, Ox Nche. Replacements: Dan Jooste, Nthuthuko Mchunu, Carlu Sadie, Reniel Hugo, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Cameron Wright, Lionel Cronje, Yaw Penxe.