Paul Jordaan will make his Super Rugby return off the bench when the Sharks play the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The midfielder is over his knee injury and returns to the match 23, replacing Heimar Williams in the only change to the line-up that beat the Waratahs two weeks ago.
Sharks director of rugby Jake White talked up the Lions, who have won four of their seven matches this season.
'The Lions’ forward pack has been outstanding; I think Johan Ackermann has done a fantastic job,' he said. 'Their front row was supposedly young players who’ve come along and staked a claim. That’s just three players in a whole team, but it epitomises everybody in that group: no-namers who have really stuck their hands up and played above themselves.
'They have a lot of pace in the backline and a lot of skills, and the fact that Elton Jantjies, a Springbok, isn’t in their starting line-up proves that they’re obviously quite comfortable with the way they’re playing. The last time we played them, Elton started against us. Now he’s not in the mix, so it will be a completely different challenge for us.'
Sharks – 15 Lwazi Mvovo, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 S’bura Sithole, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis (c), 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Keegan Daniel, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Paul Jordaan, 23 SP Marais.
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
