The Sharks have been forced into two changes for Tuesday’s clash against the All Blacks as head coach JP Pietersen battles a fresh wave of injuries at the Durban-based club, reports DEVIN HERMANUS.
Pietersen on Monday said in a press conference ahead of the second match of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series that lock Emile van Heerden is injured and his place in the starting XV will be taken by Deon Slabbert.
Springbok utility forward Vincent Tshituka has also been ruled out due to concussion, with Corne Rahl promoted to the bench.
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Addressing the media from Durban as the Sharks brace to lock horns with New Zealand after Friday’s win over the Stormers, Pietersen shared his injury issues in the tight five.
“We got a lot of injuries, and we are midway in pre-season,” he said. “A bit of trouble at loosehead prop: we got Phatu Ganyane out injured, Cam Dawson is out injured too.
“Phatu Ganyane has got a shoulder problem, Cam Dawson hurt his triceps, he’s also out. Simphiwe Matanzima is also out, he’ll be back soon, I think in three weeks time.
“And then we got lock issues too; we got Jason Jenkins, Stefan Lewies, they are all out … a lot of soft tissue injuries.”
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The Sharks already have availability and fitness concerns around several players, including Springboks Bongi Mbonambi, Makazole Mampimpi and Jordan and Jaden Hendrikse.
The Stormers took the game to the All Blacks at Cape Town Stadium, despite still being mixed in pre-season training. The Cape outfit lost scrumhalves Imad Khan (knee) and Dewaldt Duvenage (broken arm), while skipper Ruhan Nel hurt his calf.
Pietersen acknowledged the risk of injury to his already frail squad, adding: “As you can see with the Stormers game, they also lost two nines in the game with injury so it’s always a risk when you play a game mid-pre-season and you didn’t complete the pre-season.
“I’ll hold my fingers and my toes together for tomorrow, but we prepare the boys as best as we can to give them a good opportunity to be robust and be competitive against the All Blacks.
“We’ll see tomorrow how it goes and obviously we wil not be at our 100 percent – at our best at 70 or 80 percent – but we’ll give it everything we can and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
SHARKS – 15 Zekhethelo Siyaya, 14 Donovan Don, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Murray Koster, 11 Litelihle Bester, 10 Vusi Moyo, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Nick Hatton (c), 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Deon Slabbert, 4 Hendrè Stassen, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Nemo Roelofse.
Bench: 16 Liam van Wyk, 17 Rambo Kubekha, 18 Simphiwe Ngobese, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Matt Romao, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Luan Giliomee, 23 Ma’a Nonu.
Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
The post Sharks lose Bok for All Blacks clash appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
The Sharks have been forced into two changes for Tuesday’s clash against the All Blacks as head coach JP Pietersen battles a fresh wave of injuries at the Durban-based club.
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