It's all about survival once again for the Sharks' second row as they prepare to face the Springbok lock duo of Flip van der Merwe and Victor Matfield at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The loss of rising lock Pieter-Steph du Toit to a knee injury for the rest of the year has made Jake White's team rather fragile in the middle of the scrum.
They will need much of the fighting spirit they showed in their 35-20 win over the Queensland Reds at home last weekend.
In Du Toit's place will be Stephan Lewies, who saw off Wallabies James Horwill and Rob Simmons.
Horwill, the Australian captain, admitted after the game that they hoped to pluck at Lewies's line-out takes, but hooker Bismarck du Plessis's wit and experience shielded the 22-year-old from the wolves.
Du Plessis had to alternate jumpers from Anton Bresler to Willem Alberts and Ryan Kankowski, who has taken charge of calling the line-outs.
In Pretoria they will face the line-out master himself, Victor Matfield, who has come out of retirement to save his beloved Bulls and to resurrect his Springbok career.
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