Zebre next on in-form Sharks radar

The Sharks have moved up to sixth on the table following their hard-fought 37-20 win over the Scarlets last weekend and will be hoping that they can build on that performance and the home momentum on Saturday when they take on the winless Italians.

Zebre went down 55-7 to the DHL Stormers last weekend to keep them rooted to the foot of the table after ten matches.

Having played Benetton a few weeks ago in Italy, the Sharks have an idea of what to expect against Italian opposition and coach Sean Everitt wants his side to ignore Zebre’s current position on the log going into Saturday.

“Like any international competition, no team can be taken lightly,” Everitt said via the Sharks website. “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 three of the competition.

“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 Vodacom 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.”

The Sharks have lost in-form prop Ox Nche to injury after he left the field during their bruising encounter last weekend. Nche has been replaced by the young Nthutuko Mchunu while Khwezi Mona comes onto the bench.

There are two changes in the backline with Jaden Hendrikse and Grant Williams swapping at scrumhalf with the former returning to the starting line-up while Ben Tapuai returns to the starting line-up with Jeremy Ward shifting to the bench.

The Sharks are still without Sbu Nkosi who withdrew from last week’s matchday team on the day and Werner Kok retains his spot after a workman-like performance against the Welsh side.

Saturday evening’s match kicks off at 6.30pm.

Cell C Sharks
1 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Thomas du Toit (v/c), 4 Gerbrandt Grobler, 5 Reniel Hugo, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Henco Venter, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 9 Grant Williams, 10 Curwin Bosch, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 12 Marius Louw, 13 Ben Tapuai, 14 Werner Kok, 15 Aphelele Fassi.

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.