Francois Steyn will play at flyhalf for the Sharks' must-win match against the Stormers on Saturday.
Patrick Lambie has failed to recover in time for the final match of the regular season and Francois Steyn has been tasked with directing the Sharks' backline at Newlands. The mercurial Steyn has played at 10 on numerous occasions for the Sharks this season, most notably in their historic win over the Crusaders in Christchurch. He found himself occupying the pivot position the last time the Stormers and Sharks met, just prior to the international window. On that occasion he had an off-day at the office and his usually reliable boot went amiss.
In other changes to the starting XV, Paul Jordaan returns from injury to form a new midfield combination with JP Pietersen. In the forwards, Ryan Kankowski will start at eighthman while Jake White has opted to bolster his run-on side with the inclusion of Springboks Willem Alberts, Jannie du Plessis and Bismarck du Plessis.
The Stormers are out of the running for the tournament, but they won't have any trouble getting up for this one.
'At the beginning of the year, people said the Stormers and the Sharks had amongst the two strongest squads in the competition, and that hasn’t changed, said White. 'It doesn’t matter what they say about the injuries, they still have a great squad. We always knew at the back-end of the competition they were going to be a threat and that’s exactly what’s happened. In a lot of ways, with nothing to gain, that gives them a lot of freedom because it doesn’t feel like they have a noose around their neck.'
Sharks – 15 SP Marais, 14 S’bura Sithole, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Paul Jordaan, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Francois Steyn, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis (c), 1 Thomas du Toit.
Subs: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Jean Deysel, 21 Charl McLeod, 22 Fred Zeilinga, 23 Tonderai Chavhanga.
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
