Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold has made five changes to his starting team as they prepare to face the Bulls in a Super Rugby clash in Pretoria on Friday (19:10 kick-off).
Philip van der Walt replaces Jean-Luc du Preez in the No 7 jersey, with the latter ruled out for a week with a foot injury.
Kyle Cooper starts at hooker in place of Franco Marais and Lourens Adriaanse comes in at tighthead prop, with Coenie Oosthuizen starting off the bench.
In the backline, Michael Claassens starts at scrumhalf in place of Cobus Reinach, while Lwazi Mvovo is back in the starting team, with Odwa Ndungane moving down to the bench.
Mvovo will play left wing, with JP Pietersen moving to the right.
On the bench, loose forward Keegan Daniel also makes a welcome return to the Sharks after returning from Japan. It’s Daniel’s first Super Rugby match since 2014.
Teams:
Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Trevor Nyakane
Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Nic de Jager, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Jesse Kriel
Sharks
15. Willie le Roux, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Paul Jordaan, 12. Andre Esterhuizen, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Joe Pietersen, 9. Michael Claassens, 8. Daniel du Preez, 7. Philip van der Walt, 6. Marcell Coetzee, 5. Stephan Lewies, 4. Etienne Oosthuizen, 3. Lourens Adriaanse, 2. Kyle Cooper, 1. Tendai Mtawarira (captain)
Substitutes: 16. Franco Marais, 17. Juan Schoeman, 18. Coenie Oosthuizen, 19. Hyron Andrews, 20. Keegan Daniel, 21. Cobus Reinach, 22. Garth April, 23. Odwa Ndungane
Source: News24
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