John Plumtree announces Natal Sharks' match day 22 for Currie Cup title defence against Golden Lions – Rugby News
South African provincial Rugby Union side, Natal Sharks, has announced their match day squad for their upcoming clash against the Golden Lions. Natal Sharks are the defending champions of the
South African provincial Rugby Union tournament, known as the Currie Cup.
Golden Lions finished as the leaders of the 2011 Currie Cup tournament, which has helped them to secure a place in the final match at their home ground in Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg on Saturday,
October 29.
Sharks head coach, John Plumtree, listed his squad for their weekend game on Thursday, October 27 in a statement released on the club’s official website. He has made one change in his match
day 22 as compared to the squad which took the field in their semifinal clash against the Free State Cheetahs at Kings Park, last weekend.
Sharks defeated Cheetahs to secure a final berth, while Golden Lions defeated Western Provinces to confirm their place in the final. Both Lions and Sharks finished at the first and the second
position on the 2011 ABSA Currie Cup table, with 50 and 48 points respectively. Both teams have won 10 of their 14 games round matches, while Lions lost just three in comparison to Sharks 4.
Sharks registered a thumping bonus point win over the Lions in their last round match of the 2011 Currie Cup. However, Plumtree denied any impact of that win on the Lions in their upcoming
encounter. He said, “They were able to lighten up against us when they played here recently, that performance meant nothing. I'm sure they've forgotten about that game, we have.”
Plumtree is relieved with the arrival of his ace players from Springboks national duty during the 2011 Rugby World Cup tournament. Sharks played the entire Currie Cup season in absence of seven
of their star players. He added that last year they had the same squad from the start to the end of the season, which has helped them to gel together as a team and perform as a coherent unit.
Plumtree has expressed his disappointment that this year Sharks were not able to repeat the same. On the contrary, he termed Lions unit as more coherent. He said, “They (Lions) have that in
place already and that will be the challenge for us. They've been playing well with that group all year.”
Plumtree further added, “This year we've had a lot of challenges which the Lions haven't. The challenge for us is that we have to gel as a team right from the first whistle, that's something
we've talked about.”
The only change in the Sharks squad comes at the expense of the Jacques Botes, who has been dropped from the match day 22 altogether. Botes makes way for the second row forwards player Alistair
Hargreaves, who will start the match from the bench.
Sharks squad for their upcoming encounter consists of,
Starting XV: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanche, 12 Marius Joubert, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Conrad Hoffmann, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem
Alberts, 6 Keegan Daniel (c), 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Jean Deysel, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Marcell Coetzee, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Lwazi Mvovo.
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