The Cell C Sharks will target a full house of points and look to keep their unbeaten record at home intact this season at Hollywoodbets Kings Park when they welcome Zebre Parma to Durban on Saturday @ 18h30, where the fourth victory in a row will be very likely if they deliver the quality of play that has steered them to success in the last few weeks.
With the Durbanites trailing Edinburgh and the Glasgow Warriors by eight points, even a bonus-point win won’t influence their position on the log, but it would give them a handy nudge in reducing the gap to the fifth position regardless of the result of the clash between the Scottish clubs in Glasgow on Friday.
Zebre Parma, however, come off a heavy 55-7 defeat against the DHL Stormers last week and have yet to win a match this season, which will fuel their motivation to try to create an upset in the humidity of Durban.
The Cell C Sharks team shows a number of rotational changes from the side that beat Scarlets last week, with Springboks Ox Nché and Sbu Nkosi earning breaks as Ntuthuko Mchunu and Werner Kok have been promoted to the starting XV.
Apart from the inclusion of Mchunu and Kok in the run-on side, Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt has also made two more changes to the backline, with Ben Tapuai named at outside centre in place of Jeremy Ward, and Grant Williams replacing Jaden Hendrikse at scrumhalf.
Ward and Hendrikse will start the match on the bench, where they will be joined by Boeta Chamberlain (flyhalf) and Khwezi Mona (prop). The rest of the side that won last Friday remains unchanged.
Although their opponents this weekend are winless after 10 straight losses in the Vodacom URC, Everitt has warned his players not to underestimate the Italians.
"In this competition, no-one can be taken lightly - we saw that when the Scarlets put 35 points over Glasgow, who are in the top four of the competition," said Everitt.
"Zebre are an unpredictable side that kick the ball really well, and although they haven't done that well on the log, they gave the Bulls a good go for the first 40 minutes before the Bulls' power game dominated them.
"But our focus is on our own performance at the moment, taking it week by week and we know that we need to get better and put in a better performance as a whole for 80 minutes."
Weather: 24° with 9km/h NNE wind, cloudy with 67% humidity.
Prediction: Cell C Sharks by 25
Teams:
Cell C Sharks: 15. Aphelele Fassi, 14. Werner Kok, 13. Ben Tapuai, 12. Marius Louw, 11. Makazole Mapimpi, 10. Curwin Bosch, 9. Grant Williams, 8. Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7. Henco Venter, 6. Siya Kolisi (c), 5. Reniel Hugo, 4. Gerbrandt Grobler, 3. Thomas du Toit, 2. Bongi Mbonambi, 1. Ntuthuko Mchunu. Replacements: 16. Kerron van Vuuren, 17. Khwezi Mona, 18. Khutha Mchunu, 19. Le Roux Roets, 20. Phepsi Buthelezi, 21. Jaden Hendrikse, 22. Boeta Chamberlain, 23. Jeremy Ward.
Zebre: 15. Michelangelo Biondelli, 14. Jacopo Trulla, 13. Erich Cronjé, 12. Timothy O’Malley, 11. Simone Gesi, 10. Antonio Rizzi, 9. Nicolò Casilio, 8. Renato Giammarioli (captain), 7. Iacopo Bianchi, 6. Luca Andreani, 5. Liam Mitchell, 4. Potu Junior Leavasa, 3. Ion Neculai, 2. Massimo Ceciliani, 1. Andrea Lovotti. Replacements: 16. Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17. Juan Pitinari, 18. Eduardo Bello, 19. Andrea Zambonin, 20. Maxime Mbandà, 21. Guglielmo Palazzani, 22. Carlo Canna, 23. Giulio Bisegni.