Garth April will start at flyhalf in a new-look Sharks side to face Toulouse in a friendly match on Thursday.

April replaces the injured Pat Lambie, while Marcell Coetzee comes into the side and will take over the leadership reins.

Etienne Oosthuizen is the only player who started against Toulon last Friday who retains his place, with coach Gary Gold opting to give as many of his available squad members a run on their French tour.

The players unavailable due to injury or Saru limitations are Beast Mtawarira, Coenie Oosthuizen, Francois Kleinhans, Giant Mtyanda, Lwazi Mvovo, Lambie and Ruan Botha.

'The match against Toulouse gives us another opportunity to test new combinations and work on certain areas that we were not as accurate in last Friday,' Gold said. 'Toulouse boast a good squad and they’ll provide the ideal test and preparation we require, ahead of the start of Super Rugby.'

Sharks – 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Wandile Mjekevu , 13 Heimar Williams, 12 Johan Deysel, 11 S’bura Sithole, 10 Garth April, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Christiaan de Bruin, 7 Etienne Oosthuizen, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Dave McDuling, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Gerhard Engelbrecht, 18 Daniel du Preez, 19 Jean-Luc du Preez, 20 Cobus Reinach, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 André Esterhuizen, 23 Paul Jordaan, 24 Odwa Ndungane, 25 Joe Pietersen.

Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images