Sharks XV turn to their young champions ahead of Stormers clash
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Sharks XV head coach Mike Vowles has bolstered his side with returning victorious SA Under 20 Baby Bok stars in his quest to bolster his side for the clash against the Stormers XXIII at the DHL Stadium on Saturday.
Both sides come off a win-and-loss record in the opening fortnight’s action and each will be determined to rectify that record this weekend.
“We’re a team that speaks about being process-driven and we want to build on our performances from week-to-week, so our expectation going into this match is that we have to be better than we were in the last two games,” Volwes explained as his side prepare for their third away match in a row.
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#TeamAnnouncement: Markus Muller takes centre stage as Stormers ring the changes 👇#CurrieCup #StormersXXIII #Sharks #STOvSHA https://t.co/n9eDxMFbrE
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“There are certain things we did exceptionally well in the previous games that we want to build on, and to fix the stuff we didn’t quite execute as well as we should have, so the idea would be to improve and most importantly, put in a good performance for 80 minutes because I think in both games, we’ve fallen away in that back quarter, so we want to make sure we put in an 80-minute performance on Saturday.”
In that regard, Vowles has made some adjustments to the group, including four Under 20s that have come back into the system.
“They come with massive potential, they’re exciting rugby players and we feel that including them will give us some punch in the final quarter of the game and that they have a really positive influence on our performance,” he explained.
Vowles has selected Luan Gilliomee at fullback with Khuthi Rasivhaga, Liam van Wyk and Rambo Kubheka playing off the bench.
“We know the Stormers XXIII have come off a big loss and there will be a response from them, they’ll come out fighting, so we anticipate a really high tempo, very physical match.
“But we’ve had a good week of prep and we’ve made some changes to the team which speaks to how we want to play and how we want to finish the game.”
Sharks XV: 15 Luan Gilliomee, 14 Christie Grobbelaar, 13 Marnus Potgieter, 12 Janco Purchase, 11 Lyle Matthews, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Ross Braude, 8 Thomas Dyer (captain), 7 Danio Botha, 6 Luaan Olivier, 5 Deon Slabbert, 4 Johan Momsen, 3 Simphiwe Ngobese, 2 Bryce Calvert, 1 Cameron Dawson.
Replacements: 16 Liam van Wyk, 17 Phiwayinkosi “Rambo” Kubheka, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Hanu Pieterse, 20 Jean-Henri Smit, 21 Juan Loots, 22 Albie Bester, 23 Khuthi Rasivhaga.
Date: Saturday, August 1
Venue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Dylen November
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira, Zoe Naude
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen
