Sharks front Benetton challenge with minimal change

Benetton will come to Durban this weekend intent on a victory that will lift them above the Cell C Sharks into the top eight of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log but the hosts have given a strong indication they are not taking the Italian challengers lightly.

Sharks director of rugby has retained all his top players from last week’s spirited though ultimately in vain performance against Toulouse in the Heineken Champions Cup quarterfinal with one exception - the impressive inside centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg was stretchered from the field in Toulouse and will not face Benetton on Friday.

Instead the Sharks have returned former Wallaby international Ben Tapuai to the starting team after he played off the bench last week. Tapuai will partner current Springbok No 13 Lukhanyo Am and much will be expected of the star-studded home backs in a match where they will be determined to pick up a maximum of five log points.

The last time they played URC was in the disappointing away defeat to Scarlets and it has left them vulnerable to not only missing out qualification for next year’s Champions Cup, which will require them to finish seventh, but also the play-offs. The Sharks were helped by the Emirates Lions when the Johannesburg team beat Benetton away, but there is only one log point separating the two teams.

Benetton will play the DHL Stormers in the other match they will play on their mini South African tour, with that clash scheduled for Stellenbosch as the Stormers’ usual home ground has been booked out that weekend for an alternative event.

Tapuai’s place on the bench will be taken by Marnus Potgieter in the only other change to the match day squad that did duty in Toulouse and as well as an endorsement of the performance produced in defeat last week, the selection is an indication of Powell’s desire to get some continuity in the combinations ahead of the play-off phase of the URC.

Cell C Sharks team: Boeta Chamberlain, Werner Kok, Lukhanyo Am, Ben Tapuai, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Grant Williams, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Vincent Tshituka, Siya Kolisi (captain), Hyron Andrews, Thomas du Toit, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Replacements: Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Carlu Sadie, Jeandre Labuschagne, Phepsi Buthelezi, Cameron Wright, Marnus Potgieter, Thaakir Abrahams.