Du Toit in Sharks comeback
Du Toit, who has been sidelined since March after undergoing knee surgery, will feature off the bench when the Sharks play the Golden Lions in a warm-up match in Pietermaritzburg on Friday.
The burly second row forward has been training with the Boks for a few weeks, but will play his first match in four months if he gets game time at the Woodburn Stadium.
It is a similar route that the Bok skipper, De Villiers took after his knee reconstruction surgery – although the midfielder did have a 20-minute cameo for the Boks of the bench against the World XV, before playing in two pre-season matches for Western Province.
Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold named 33 players for the encounter with the Lions.
This include some of the team's new recruits – Joe Pietersen, Michael Claassens and Philip van der Walt.
"I am happy with the balance we have," Gold said of the squad preparing for the Currie Cup.
"I like to think that has happened by design rather than luck, but I am excited about these youngsters.
"We have a couple of older guys, a few who have moved on, but it's now the time for the Khaya Majolas, the Philip van der Walts, the Wandile Mjekevus of the world to step up and take the reins of this pretty new-look Sharks team."
Gold believes rugby that wins games and excites the crowds requires the players to be able to execute.
"I really think we're a lot better than what we've seen in the past; conditioning and fitness has been one of the key areas we've focused on in pre-season.
"We have addressed conditioning and I'm really happy.
"At the end of the day, you can have the best intentions in the world, but if you have no petrol in the engine, your car won't run.
"You need to be fit enough to play the game we want to play, to defend for 80 minutes, to play a running game and hopefully score the tries we know we can score.
"We will have to be fit enough to do that and this is why it's been one of the two major areas we've focused on."
Sharks: 15 SP Marais, 14 Charles Mayeza, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Alcino Izaacs, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Khaya Majola, 5 Marco Wentzel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Monde Hadebe, 1 Dale Chadwick.
Replacements – from: Juan Schoeman, Franco Marais, Thomas du Toit, Wiehan Hay, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Francois Kleinhans, Dave McDuling, Christiaan de Bruin, Stefan Ungerer, Lionel Cronje, Sibusiso Sithole, Heimar Williams, Wandile Mjekevu, Odwa Ndungane, Garth April, Gerhard Engelbrecht, JC Astle, Tonderai Chavhanga.
Date: Friday, July 31
Venue: Woodburn Stadium, Pietermaritzburg
Kick-off: 19.00 (17.00 GMT)
Referee: Stuart Berry
