The Sharks have named an unchanged team for Saturday's match against the Waratahs in Sydney.
Director of rugby Gary Gold has retained faith in the side that pushed the log-leading Hurricanes all the way in Wellington, with Stefan Ungerer and Lionel Cronjé given another chance to impress in the halfback positions.
The Sharks will be looking to break a five-match losing streak and a 14-year drought in Sydney on Saturday.
'There's a lot of pride at stake,' said Gold. 'We’ve been bitterly disappointed this year, for various reasons, and it’s important for us to show that we’re still in this fight to the end.
'They’re a very physical team, probably the most physical Australian team. We saw what the Force did to them on the weekend by matching them from a physical point of view, so that’s the challenge for us.'
Sharks – 15 Lwazi Mvovo, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Francois Steyn, 11 S'bura Sithole, 10 Lionel Cronjé, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Etienne Oosthuizen, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Marco Wentzel (c), 4 Stephan Lewies, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Kyle Cooper, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 André Esterhuizen, 23 Waylon Murray.
Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
