Durban - A number of fringe players in the Sharks squad have a golden opportunity to state their case against Toulon on Thursday night in a pre-season friendly for the Durban team that gives new coach Gary Gold a vital chance to asses the greater talent at his disposal.
A number of Springbok players have not made the trip to France in injured forwards Jannie du Plessis and Willem Alberts, and the Japanese-based trio of Frans Steyn, JP Pietersen and Ryan Kankowski.
Much-hyped youngster Thomas du Toit is another prop who has not made the journey, and also not included in the 26-man squad doing duty on Thursday night is All Black Sevens wing Jack Wilson.
An overseas-born wing that will be on show is Samoan Paul Perez, who is attempting to revive his international career by having a crack at Super Rugby with the Sharks.
The five Boks not in Toulon are expected to be back to start against the Cheetahs in the Sharks’ Super Rugby opener, at Kings Park on February 14.
The European champions, by the same token, will be bereft of a number of key players who are away preparing with their countries for this weekend’s opening round of the Six Nations.
They do, however, have a number of South African stars who will be starting including Bryan Habana, at outside centre, and recently retired Bok lock Bakkies Botha.
There will be a keen eye on fledgling Bok lock Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is making his comeback for the Sharks after missing 2014 through injury after having forced his way on to the international stage late in 2013.
He is just 22 and was one of the brightest prospects on the Springbok horizon before suffering a horrific knee injury in pre-season training last year.
There are newcomers on show in former England lock Mouritz Botha, the Vryheid-born 33-year-old, who will start next to Du Toit in the second row, and flanker Renaldo Bothma, the Namibian international on loan from the Pumas.
In the midfield, there are big opportunities for youngster Heimar Williams and Waylon Murray, who is back in Durban after sojourns in Port Elizabeth and Pretoria, in the absence of Steyn, while block-busting SA Under 20 star Andre Esterhuizen will cover centre off the bench.
But the Sharks are hardly short of big-time players in their starting line-up. In Patrick Lambie and Cobus Reinach they have the halfback combination that will start Super Rugby with the inside track to the Bok starting line-up for the Rugby World Cup, and there are current Bok front-rankers in captain Bismarck du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira, and a former England World Cup prop in Matt Stevens.
Thursday night’s match will be televised live on SuperSport at 9.50pm.
Sharks: SP Marais, S’bura Sithole, Waylon Murray, Heimar Williams, Lwazi Mvovo, Pat Lambie, Cobus Reinach, Tera Mtembu, Renaldo Bothma, Marcell Coetzee, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Mouritz Botha, Matt Stevens, Bismarck du Plessis (capt), Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: Kyle Cooper, Dale Chadwick, Lourens Adriaanse, Monde Hadebe, Marco Wentzel, Etienne Oosthuizen, Andre Esterhuizen, Paul Perez, Odwa Ndungane, Conrad Hoffmann, Fred Zeilinga.
The Star