The return leg of the Carling Currie Cup kicks off this week with the Cell C Sharks travelling to Kimberley to take on the Windhoek Draught Griquas in their second round match on Wednesday afternoon.
After a tightly-contested opening round 24-23 victory over Griquas at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in January, Griquas will be highly motivated to return the favour at their home ground, a venue that hasn’t always been very kind to visiting teams.
With further wins over DHL Western Province, the Sigma Lions and Airlink Pumas, the Cell C Sharks will look to build on their early form that handed them four wins from their first four rounds.
Three points separate the two teams on the log, with the Cell C Sharks currently sitting in third place on 18 points while Griquas occupy fourth position on 15 points.
Cell C Sharks Currie Cup head coach Etienne Fynn has made three changes to his team, two of them rotational as he brings in livewire flank Dylan Richardson for Thembelani Bholi in the only change to the pack.
There are two changes amongst the backs, with Jeremy Ward moving from outside centre to the inside centre berth in place of Ethan Fisher with Marnus Potgieter wearing the number 13 jersey and another positional switch where Lloyd Koster coming in at wing for Yaw Penxe who moves to fullback in place of Jordan Chait
Following on from their outstanding form in junior rugby, Cell C Sharks Under 20 scrumhalf and flyhalf Bradley Davids and Jean Smith have earned a call-up to the Currie Cup team and will look to feature off the bench in the latter part of the game.
Wednesday evening’s clash at Windhoek Draught Park kicks off at 5.45 pm.
Cell C Sharks: 1. Dian Bleuler, 2. Fez Mbatha, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 4. Ruben van Heerden, 5. Hyron Andrews, 6. James Venter (c), 7. Dylan Richardson, 8. Celimpilo Gumede, 9. Cameron Wright (v/c), 10. Tito Bonilla, 11. Curwin Gertse, 12. Jeremy Ward, 13. Marnus Potgieter, 14. Lloyd Koster, 15. Yaw Penxe, Replacements: 16. Dan Jooste, 17. Khwezi Mona, 18. Lourens Adriaanse, 19. Corne Rahl, 20. OJ Noah, 21. Thembelani Bholi, 22. Bradley Davids, 23. Jean Smith.