Veteran lock Stephan Lewies will start for the Hollywoodbets Sharks for the first time in seven years when the Durban team face Lyon away in their first EPCR Challenge Cup match of the season on Saturday.
Lewies left the Sharks in 2019 to further his career at English club Harlequins, and returned to Sharks colours for the first time since then when he was part of the match day squad that lost 39-22 to the DHL Stormers in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby in Cape Town last weekend.
He effectively replaces the injured most capped Springbok Eben Etzebeth, who left the field before halftime at the DHL Stadium six days ago and has been de-registered by the Sharks for the Challenge Cup.
Given that all the Sharks’ Boks are being rested this week, it is reasonable to assume that Etzebeth would not have been playing in this game even if he had been available.
Your Hollywoodbets Sharks team for our EPCR Challenge Cup opener against LOU Rugby tomorrow 🦈📃 #SharksRugbyClub #BlackWhiteForever #EPCRChallengeCup https://t.co/IKfgCxyaEv
— Sharks Rugby Club (@SharksRugby) October 16, 2026
As anticipated, Bok capped flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse returns to the starting team for the first time this season after recovering from injury, with the timing of his return to fitness fortuitous given that Vusi Moyo was another injury sustained in the bruising clash with the Stormers.
Hendrikse will be backed up on the bench by former Lions player Gianni Lombard, who made his Sharks debut off the bench when Moyo was injured last weekend.
Another player into the team for the first time this season after recovering from injury is wing Jaco Williams, who made his debut for the Boks against Wales in July but is probably still best known for his exploits for the Junior Boks en route to winning the Junior World Championship in 2025.
Fellow Bok Ivan van Zyl plays his first game in the No 9 jersey in Lyon, with Jaden Hendrikse being rested this week. The Sharks’ overseas tour continues next week with the first of a clutch of two important away URC games against Cardiff. The tour will conclude in Munster a week later.
Suleiman Hartzenberg, on loan from the Stormers, returns to the team after missing the game against his regular paymasters, and it is good to see him playing in his preferred position of outside centre.
When tried there by the Stormers he never quite grabbed his opportunities so it will be interesting if he can do so now in the colours of a different team.
It’s good too to see young Ethan Bester get another start at hooker, with Junior Bok captain Esethu Mnebelele backing him up on the bench.
In all there are 12 changes to the side that lost to the Stormers, which is a reflection that the Sharks are regarding the secondary EPCR competition as an opportunity to build their depth as well as the playing capacity of their fringe players.
No 8 Nick Hatton captains the side and has under his command a side that is shorn of Boks and other first choice players but nonetheless look s a good reflection of the much spoken of improved depth that has been built at the Durban club.
Coach JP Pietersen has gone with the conventional five/three split between forwards and backs on the bench after going six/two against the Stormers. Emile van Heerden, one of the country’s most underrated locks but unfortunately too often plagued by injury, is part of a bench that also includes Jurenzo Julius.
Hollywoodbets Sharks team: Zekhethelo Siyaya, Jaco Williams, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Murray Koster, Lil Bester, Jordan Hendrikse, Ivan van Zyl, Nick Hatton (captain), Manu Tshituka, Matt Ramao, Deon Slabbert, Stephan Lewies, Hanro Jacobs, Ethan Bester, Phatu Ganyane.
Replacements: Esethu Mnebelele, Cameron Dawson, Nemo Roelofse, Emile van Heerden, Tinotende Masevere, Bradley Davids, Gianni Lombard, Jurenzo Julius.