Hollywoodbets Sharks coach John Plumtree has returned most of his World Cup winning Springboks to his team for Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with Ulster in Durban.
However, it isn’t the wholesale inclusion of the big name players in the starting team that might have been expected, with the coach instead spreading them across the match day 23. Springbok loosehead Ox Nche is joined by his fellow World Cup winning teammate Vincent Koch on the bench.
This will be Koch’s first appearance for the Sharks after signing from overseas during the off-season. He has been injured for the past few months, which explains his delayed debut. With Bongi Mbonambi now two games into his comeback, the Sharks do have a full Bok front row to call on, only it will be Ntuthuko Mchunu, who was good in the recent game against the Emirates Lions, who starts the game in the No 1 jersey in what will be his landmark 50th cap for the franchise.
Hanro Jacobs will join Mbonambi and Nche in laying the groundwork for the arrival of Nche and Koch later in the game. As anticipated, Eben Etzebeth is back in the second row for the first time in seven weeks after undergoing a minor knee operation that kept him out of the derby games against the DHL Stormers and the Lions.
He is joined by Gerbrandt Grobler in the second row, and no doubt the former Munster and Stormers player will have extra motivation to do well now that Jason Jenkins, formerly of the Vodacom Bulls and capped by the Boks, is headed to Durban next season. Etzebeth and Grobler are backed up by young Corne Rahl, who rightly drew high praise from Etzebeth this week and is an undeniable star of the future. With Jenkins on his way to the Sharks, the Durban franchise is not going to be short of locks.
What they have been short of in recent times has been flyhalves, mainly due to an obsession from various coaches with Curwin Bosch, who will be playing his second consecutive game off the bench after making way for Siya Masuka against the Lions. Although the Sharks lost that game, Masuka did appear to make a difference to the Sharks’ attacking potency with his greater appetite for taking the ball to the gainline.
But there is also Jaden Hendrikse, with the Bok scrumhalf back in the No 9 jersey, who can move to pivot later in the game if needed. The home grown young Ethan Hooker gets a deserved chance to play alongside Masuka as he lines up in the midfield. Hooker was good against the Lions, as was the wing recruited two seasons ago from Griquas, Eduan Keyter, who made a full fist of his first start at URC level for the Durbanites.
Francois Venter drops to the bench fro this game where he will do the outside back back-up duties alongside Bosch.
Team: Aphelele Fassi, Eduan Keyter, Lukhanyo Am (captain), Ethan Hooker, Makazole Mapimpi, Siya Masuka, Jaden Hendrikse, George Cronje, Vincent Tshituka, Phepsi Buthelezi, Gerbrandt Grobler, Eben Etzebeth, Hanro Jacobs, Bongi Mbonambi, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Replacements: Kerron van Vuuren, Ox Nche, Vincent Koch, Corne Rahl, Jeandre Labuschagne, Cameron Wright, Curwin Bosch, Francois Venter.