Lock Reniel Hugo will captain a Cell C Sharks team that looks very different to the one that beat the Vodacom Bulls last week when they run out onto the Sportsground in Galway to face Connacht in a Vodacom United Rugby Championship fixture on Saturday.
The only players facing Connacht who were part of the Sharks starting team last week are flank Henco Venter, centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg and wing Marnus Potgieter, while there are another six players playing who were on the reserve bench in the 47-20 win over the Bulls.
As was written earlier in the week, Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell is not with the team in Connacht. He remained in Durban to help prepare the first choice team for next week’s Heineken Champions Cup pool match against Bordeaux Begles, with Joey Mongalo, the new Sharks Currie Cup coach, taking the head coach reins in Galway.
It isn’t just the Sharks Springboks missing from the team this week, but also several other stalwarts, such as flyhalf Curwin Bosch, with Nevaldo Fluers taking over the No 10 duties. There are three potential new caps on the bench in the form of Ockie Barnard, Corne Rahl and Ethan Hooker.
Powell, talking from Durban, said that the selection was not an indication that the Sharks were conceding the Connacht game and the players and coaches had been instructed to go to Ireland with the mission of bringing points back. However, he felt the selection was the right thing to do given the massive travel challenges that are being faced by his team this month.
“It is important to manage the squad well so we have adopted a rotation policy with the schedule in mind,” said the Sharks director of rugby.
“We are six games into an 11 game block and I can’t imagine one team can play in all of those games and then still have energy for games 10 and 11. It is important for us to still have the energy, both among the players and coaching staff, and we are looking to retain that energy by managing the team in the way we are.
“We look at this week as a week where we are putting our rotational policy into action and we are also growing the experience of both the coaches and players,” he added.
Powell added that he had full confidence in Mongalo to do a good job as head coach in Galway.
“What I do know is that he will definitely motivate the players and I have been very impressed with the energy that Joey brings to the coaching role,” said Powell.
The former Blitzbok coach is also excited about what might be brought to this game by flyhalf Fleurs.
“Novaldo has really impressed us with what he has brought in training and we played him off the bench against Leinster in Dublin earlier in the competition. He is one of those players who appears to have a lot of time on the ball and we consider him a big prospect so I am excited to see how he will adjust to the challenge of playing against a tough Connacht team in Galway.”
CELL C SHARKS TEAM: Anthony Volmink, Yaw Penxe, Murray Koster, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Marnus Potgieter, Novaldo Fleurs, Cameron Wright, Celimphilo Gumede, Henco Venter, James Venter, Reniel Hugo (captain), Thembelani Bholi, Carlu Sadie, Fez Mbatha, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Replacements: Kerron van Vuuren, Dian Bleuler, Khutha Mchunu, Ockie Barnard, Corne Rahl, Grant Williams, Lionel Cronje, Ethan Hooker.