The Cell C Sharks will be hunting their fifth win in a row when they take on Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium tonight @ 20h35, but they will be expecting a massive onslaught from the hosts who will be desperate to kick on from their first win in four outings.
Adding to the hype of the match, a win for the Durbanites could guarantee them a home quarter-final, and they could earn the No 2 ranking if Munster and the DHL Stormers suffer defeats, or if the visitors earn a bonus-point win and Munster and the other two teams win but fail to gain a full house of points.
But defeat for the KwaZulu-Natalians could likely result in them playing an away quarter-final.
The Ulster Rugby coaching team has selected the final match-day squad that sees several changes.
The starting front row sees one change from Ulster’s recent victory over Edinburgh in Round 17. Andrew Warwick takes up the loosehead prop position, with Tom O’Toole coming in at tighthead. Rob Herring is named at hooker. Iain Henderson will lead the Ulster men from the second row and will partner Alan O’Connor who returns to the starting line-up. Marcus Rea is selected at blindside flanker with Nick Timoney given the nod at openside. Duane Vermeulen completes the pack at Number Eight.
Mike Lowry, Rob Baloucoune and Ethan McIlroy will form the starting back three. Stuart McCloskey has recovered from injury to partner James Hume in the centre. Scrum-half, John Cooney, will be one cap away from 100 Ulster appearances on Friday as he is named to partner Billy Burns at out-half.
John Andrew, Eric O’Sullivan, Gareth Milasinovich, Kieran Treadwell and Matty Rea are named among the forward replacements. Nathan Doak, Stewart Moore and Rob Lyttle will provide the backline reinforcements.
The inspirational Lukhanyo Am returns to the Cell C Sharks' starting line-up.
Head coach Sean Everitt has made just three changes from the last outing, a 41-21 penultimate round victory over Connacht at Hollywoodbets Kings Park at the end of April.
There is a new lock pairing of Ruben van Heerden and Reniel Hugo who come in for Le Roux Roets and Gerbrandt Grobler respectively, with just the one change to the backline where Lukhanyo Am returns to action after his two-month sojourn in Japan, taking over from Ben Tapuai at outside centre.
The pool stages of the tournament couldn’t have ended on a more dramatic note, with only Leinster having guaranteed their position at the top of the log, and just six log points separating teams two through eight.
Home ground advantage is key in any competition come the knock-out rounds, but so too is the reward that comes with winning your country’s Shield and for this reason, there will be no holding back from the Cell C Sharks.
“We’re currently sitting on top of the South African Shield and third on the log, so there is everything to play for,” Everitt explains.
“We know what a huge challenge it is to go to Belfast to play at Kingspan, but we do believe we have the ability and the players, as well as the coaching team to go over there and do the job.
“It would be really good for us if we were able to come home and play in front of our fans at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in a quarter and semi-final.”
Weather: 8° with 9 km/h WSW wind, cloudy with 75% humidity with a 51% chance of rain.
Prediction: Cell C Sharks by 3.
Teams:
Ulster: 15. Mike Lowry, 14. Rob Baloucoune, 13. James Hume, 12. Stuart McCloskey, 11. Ethan McIlroy, 10. Billy Burns, 9. John Cooney, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Nick Timoney, 6. Marcus Rea, 5. Iain Henderson (c), 4. Alan O’Connor, 3. Tom O’Toole, 2. Rob Herring, 1. Andrew Warwick. Replacements: 16. John Andrew, 17. Eric O’Sullivan, 18. Gareth Milasinovich, 19. Kieran Treadwell, 20. Matty Rea, 21. Nathan Doak, 22. Stewart Moore, 23. Rob Lyttle.
Cell C Sharks: 15. Aphelele Fassi, 14. Werner Kok, 13. Lukhanyo Am, 12. Marius Louw, 11. Makazole Mapimpi, 10. Curwin Bosch, 9. Jaden Hendrikse, 8. Phendulani Buthelezi, 7. Henco Venter, 6. Siyamthanda Kolisi, 5. Reniel Hugo, 4. Ruben van Heerden, 3. Thomas du Toit (captain), 2. Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1. Retshegofaditswe Nche. Replacements: 16. Kerron van Vuuren, 17. Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18. Khutha Mchunu, 19. Hyron Andrews, 20. Jeandré Labuschagne, 21. Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 22. Grant Williams, 23. Boeta Chamberlain.
