The Sharks have picked arguably the strongest pack of their Australasian tour as they gear up for one last big heave before heading home from Brisbane, where they play the Reds on Friday.
Gary Gold’s charges are desperate to avoid the dubious distinction of being the first Sharks team to be whitewashed on tour. The forwards have been slowly coming together as a unit as players return from suspension and injury, and the all-Springbok front row of the Du Plessis brothers and Tendai Mtawarira has been restored after the latter withdrew at the last minute from last week’s match against the Waratahs because of an injury niggle.
It is a formidable pack, as it should be with only No 8 Renaldo Bothma uncapped at Test level, although lock Marco Wentzel’s three Tests were way back in 2002 and second row partner Stephan Lewies’ Test experience is limited to a substitute appearance off the bench against Scotland in Port Elizabeth last year.
Director of Rugby Gold has never had an opportunity to put together his first-choice pack – there were pre-season injuries to Willem Alberts and Lewies, a campaign-ending injury to Pieter-Steph du Toit in round three and then a never-ending cycle of fresh injuries and suspensions, notably to former captain Bismarck du Plessis.
It is one thing to have a Springbok-laden pack – it is quite another for them to play like Boks, and the players owe it to their supporters to all fire at the same time against the Reds.
The backline is unchanged, meaning Lionel Cronjé continues to be preferred to Fred Zeilinga at flyhalf and young scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer continues ahead of experienced Conrad Hoffman. It is the third match in a row that Cronjé and Ungerer start as the halfback pairing.
The Beast is back for Dale Chadwick, who has had a good season and may well have continued at loosehead prop this week had he not suffered a nasty cut to the head at training this week.
“It was an extremely physical game against the Waratahs and a lot of the guys are sore, but the guys understand it is critically important that we break this losing streak,” Gold said. “We had a shocking opening tour game against the Highlanders, then two good performances where we weren’t on the right side of the scoreboard.
“On other days, those results might have gone our way, but the fact of the matter now is that the Reds seemed to have turned the corner and it’s vital for us to do the same thing,” Gold said.
That is not going to happen if the Sharks do not sort out their defensive lapses which has proved costly all tour. Gold knows this only too well.
“We’re not fooling ourselves, we realise that we need a vast improvement in our defence,” he admitted.
“But we have some young guys on the park who are learning a huge amount. I have no doubt we can only improve. I’m reasonably encouraged by the fact that the issues we’re getting wrong are very fixable”.
Sharks STARTING XV: Lwazi Mvovo, Odwa Ndungane, JP Pietersen, Frans Steyn, S’bura Sithole, Lionel Cronjé, Stefan Ungerer, Renaldo Bothma, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Marco Wentzel (capt), Stephan Lewies, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Beast Mtawarira; Replacements: Franco Marais, Dale Chadwick, Lourens Adriaanse, Mouritz Botha, Etienne Oosthuizen, Conrad Hoffmann, Fred Zeilinga, André Esterhuizen - The Star