Rugby
Stevens set for Sharks debut─── 09:57 Fri, 22 Aug 2014
Bloemfontein - Former England and British and Irish Lions prop, Matt Stevens is set to make his Sharks debut, when the Durban side face the Toyota Free State Cheetahs in the 3rd round of the Currie Cup tomorrow.
The Sharks have named just three changes to their side, which beat the Pumas at the Shark Tank last week.
Etienne Oosthuizen reverts back to lock to replace the injured JC Astle, while Francois Kleinhans starts at flank.
Stevens, who was born in Durban, starts ahead of Lourens Adriaanse, while Dale Chadwick starts at loosehead in place of the powerful Thomas du Toit.
“This a tough competition and fortunately we’ve got through the first two games, but we have another tough one on Saturday," said coach Brad Macleod-Henderson.
“In some ways, Free State are quite similar to us. They have lost quite a few players who have either gone overseas or are with the Springboks, so they are regrouping. After losing in the opening weekend, they got it right against Griquas last weekend, so we know we’re in for a tough game," the coach added.
He further feels there are plenty of positives to take out of their 34-17 win over the Pumas last week, however the he concedes there were one or two concerns as well.
Meanwhile, hooker, Kyle Cooper feels things are going well for the Sharks and the feel positive for the season.
"With a whole new game plan this season and a whole bunch of new players, things have gelled really well together hitting our strides, hopefully we can take it one step further this weekend," said the feisty player.
"They've played a lot of rugby, one will always miss them, they're great players, they've all played over a 100 caps, but the guys we've got at the moment can fill the spot and do the job," Cooper said on missing numerous of their Springboks.
Tomorrow’s match at Kings’ Park in Durban kicks off at 19:10.
Sharks
15 SP Marais, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 S'bura Sithole, 12 Paul Jordaan, 11 Tonderai Chavhanga, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Tera Mtembu (Captain), 7 Francois Kleinhans, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Marco Wentzel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Dale Chadwick.
Replacements - 16 Franco Marais, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 tephan Lewies / Johan Meyer, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Heimar Williams, 22 Lionel Cronje.
Toyota Free State Cheetahs
15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Rayno Benjamin, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Joubert Engelbrecht, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Willie du Plessis, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Jean Cook, 7 Neil Claassen, 6 Tienie Burger, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Dolph Botha, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld (captain), 1 Kevin Stevens.
Replacements - 16 AJ le Roux, 17 George Marich, 18 Henco Venter, 19 Vincent Jobo, 20 Shaun Venter, 21 Pieter-Steyn de Wet, 22 JP du Plessis.
Morgan Piek/ OFM News
Kyle Cooper on their season and the Springboks:
