Head coach John Plumtree has made five changes to the Sharks starting lineup to face Edinburgh in Durban on Saturday in the Vodacom URC.
Plumtree’s key overhaul comes up front, beginning with the powerful front row of Ox Nche in place of Ntuthuko Mchunu and Vincent Koch getting his first start after making his debut in the win against Ulster at Kings Park last week, with Bongi Mbonambi completing a World Cup-winning Springbok front row.
In other changes, Emile van Heerden replaces Gerbrandt Grobler in the second row while James Venter makes his return and Phepsi Buthelezi shifts to No 8 in place of George Cronje, who suffered a knee injury.
In the only change in the backline, Werner Kok replaces the injured Eduan Keyter on the wing.
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The Durbanites will look to build continuity from last week’s victory and Koch explains in the buildup that while they’ve looked at their opposition and worked on a plan for the game, their focus has really been on themselves.
“Edinburgh have a completely different team this week to the one that played the Stormers where they rested a number of their Scottish internationals,” he said.
“Although we’ve analysed them, we looked at ourselves first and how we as a team can get better. We want to deliver the best performance we can, for the full 80 minutes.
“It’s going to be tough, especially up front, they have loads of international players and we know it’s not going to be easy, especially after their defeat to the DHL Stormers. They’ll be disappointed with that result and will want to rectify that against us.”
Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
