JP straight into Sharks team
IN DURBAN HE SHARKS have with justification been South Africa’s most hyped Super Rugby team this season, but their pedigree undergoes a different type of examination tomorrow when they face their first Australian opposition in a star-studded Reds team. And they will have to overcome an injury-rocked week to keep their unbeaten status.
Yesterday, key lock Pieter-Steph du Toit went down in training with a knee injury and has been replaced by the talented but inexperienced youngster Stephan Lewies. Earlier in the week, centre Paul Jordaan was lost to a serious knee injury and on Monday veteran winger Odwa Ndungane was given time off because of a family bereavement.
Coach Jake White has fallen back on the experienced JP Pietersen to solve the crisis out wide in the backline, picking the 27-year-old in Ndungane’s place despite Pietersen having only this week returned from a season in Japan.
And White has picked the exciting S’buru Sithole at 13 for Jordaan. The 22-year-old SA Sevens star excelled in the position in a preseason friendly against the Lions.
In the expected changes to the backline that played the Lions last week, Patrick Lambie returns from illness at fly-half, with Frans Steyn moving back to inside centre for Heimar Williams.
The Sharks named an unchanged team for their first four games, so the sudden burst of injuries has been greeted philosophically by their coach.
“You expect injuries are going to happen in this war of attrition,” White said. “Even so, it was disappointing to suddenly lose a player of Pieter-Stephs’ calibre in training.”
The young Bok has had the responsibility of running the Sharks’ line-out and the knee injury he has picked up has to be a disruption.
“It gives us a chance to have a good lock at a promising player in Stephan Lewies,” White said. “He’s pretty quick and has had some bullocking performances (off the bench). In South Africa we’re in the process of trying to groom locks who can call the line-outs. After Victor Matfield retired, there was a shortage of guys who can call and jump in the line-out and to have two
Tplayers like that in Stephan and Pieter-Steph has been a real bonus for us at the Sharks.
“So the loss of Pieter-Steph with a bang on the knee opens the door for someone, and we’re replacing like for like,” the coach said.
In the case of Pietersen’s return, White said that expediency meant rushing back the Springbok.
“It wasn’t ideal that we lost Paul and Odwa in the same week and we would have liked to have blooded JP off the bench to get a feel for Super Rugby (after his absence for a year),” he said. “But it is his 99th Super Rugby game. He’s been around, he’s scored 33 tries in this competition, which is the most by any player, so to be able to fall back on his experience and value for a game of this stature is massive for us.”
The Reds still boast many of the players that won the title in 2011, and that includes their famous play-making pair of Quade Cooper and Will Genia.
“The teams that have won this competition have proven threats at 9 and 10, it is always the case,” White said of Cooper and Genia. “When the Reds won in 2011, those two were on fire, but they were young and now much more experienced.
“The challenges are there for us. We have to make sure we step up to the plate. We know that the only way to put pressure on 9 and 10 is to make sure we do your job in the forwards. We’re lucky enough to have a good pack of forwards. Bismarck du Plessis has 100 games, Jannie du Plessis and the Beast have 90-odd, Ryan Kankowski and Willem Alberts are in the 80s. So there is a lot we have in our favour and we need to make it count.”
SHARKS TEAM 15-1: SP Marais, JP Pietersen, S’bura Sithole, Frans Steyn, Lwazi Mvovo, Patrick Lambie, Cobus Reinach, Ryan Kankowski, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Stephan Lewies, Anton Bresler, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis (c), Tendai Mtawarira. Bench: Kyle Cooper, Dale Chadwick, Lourens Adriaanse, Tera Mtembu, Charl McLeod, Heimar Williams, Jaco van Tonder.
WEEKEND’S FIXTURES Today: Chiefs vs Stormers (8.35am), Rebels vs Crusaders (10.40am). Tomorrow: Hurricanes vs Cheetahs (5.35am), Highlanders vs Force (8.35am), Brumbies vs Waratahs (10.40am), Lions vs Blues (3pm), Sharks vs Reds (5.05pm).