The Sharks came close to beating the Lions in Joburg in the opening round. Now we play at home and there are a number of factors in our favour.
1. We would have been boosted by the fact that 11 of our players were involved with the Springboks over the June Internationals, more than any other franchise.
2. The Lions would be hurting that they have been largely overlooked by the Springboks despite being on top of the SA log
3. The time the Sharks players spent during the international break, working with Nienaber and Erasmus with high intensity international training would have benefited them much more than the Lions
4. We are playing at home, and the Durban Humidity is a thing of the past at this point of the year. It will be an entertaining game to watch.
5. The Sharks need to win their three remaining fixtures to make the playoffs and especially need to win their next two, to set up a make or break match with the Jags in the final game of Super rugby (That game will be at home so we fancy our chances)- We will be the side on a mission as the Lions basically has qualification sewn up.
6. Sharks players such as the three du Preez brothers will have something to prove for the national selectors, same with guys like Esterhuizen and Nkosi (Who has publicly stated his goal of reaching 100 caps for the Boks)
Our squad has been up and down all season but we had a good run before the SR break and I think we will beat the Lions this Weekend.
We literally have our full strength side available for this weekend (and the rest of the games) there is not one player that I think deserves to be in the match day squad ahead of those chosen.
Chiliboy on the bench behind Akker is a relief again as we all know Chiliboy is not up to standard, at least the Sharks coach has the balls to make this call in the face of government pressure.
Here is the 23: (Springboks marked with a bolded S)
The Cell C Sharks
15 Curwin Bosch, S
14 Sbu Nkosi, S
13 Lukhanyo Am, S
12 Andre Esterhuizen, S
11 Makazole Mapimpi, S
10 Robert du Preez, S
9 Cameron Wright, S
8 Daniel du Preez, S
7 Jean-Luc du Preez, S
6 Phillip van der Walt,
5 Ruan Botha (captain),
4 Tyler Paul,
3 Thomas du Toit, S
2 Akker van der Merwe, S
1 Beast Mtawarira S
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle S, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Jacques Vermeulen, 21 Louis Schreuder S, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Lwazi Mvovo S
