Another Lion on loan to Sharks
Lions captain JC Janse van Rensburg has answered a Sharks SOS and will join them on tour in Australasia.
The Sharks flew out of Durban at the weekend as their injury toll mounted – seasoned Springbok prop Tendai Mtawarira ruled out with a calf injury, while Lions loan player Andries Coetzee stayed behind with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
Janse van Rensburg will join fellow Lions Derick Minnie and Franco van der Merwe, also on loan, when he flies out this week.
Following their disappointing 6-12 loss to the Cheetahs in dour arm-wrestle in dire conditions in Durban at the weekend, the Sharks now face a very demanding four-match Australasian trip.
It starts when they take on the Chiefs in a replay of last year's Final, in Hamilton on Saturday (April 27), before they tackle the Highlanders in Dunedin, the Reds (whom they beat in a preliminary play-off match last year) in Brisbane and conclude the trip when they head to Perth to face the Western Force.
Danie Mienie (loosehead prop) and S'bura Sithole (wing) will fly out on Monday to join up with the team.
Janse van Rensburg, linked to a move to Bayonne in France, will fly out to meet up with the team during the course of the week.
Although the big prop has no Tests to his name, he was rewarded for his good form in 2012 with a call-up to the Springboks' end-of-year tour.
Coach John Plumtree bemoaned his team's unfortunate run of bad luck.
"We need 26 fit people to tour, but we don't have that," Plumtree said before the team's departure.
"It's tough for all of us, we have 15 injuries now, that's a whole rugby team.
"I'm definitely getting that feeling this isn't our season. We're having so much bad luck.
"When Beast went down, we had had them under pressure at scrum-time in the early part of the game, then it changed when he went off."
The loss of Coetzee, who made his debut for the Sharks, is also a big blow according to the coach.
"I thought he played really well," Plumtree said, adding: "I wanted to look at him at fullback on tour which is his speciality, so it's really disappointing not to have him travel with us.
"I thought he played really well, he was very composed, so it is a big blow for us."
Sharks tour squad:
Forwards: Anton Bresler, Craig Burden, Marcell Coetzee, Kyle Cooper, Keegan Daniel, Jean Deysel, Jannie du Plessis, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Derick Minnie, Wiehahn Herbst, Tendai Mtawarira, Lubabalo Mtembu, Franco van der Merwe, JC Janse van Rensburg, Danie Mienie.
Backs: Meyer Bosman, Paul Jordaan, Patrick Lambie, Piet Lindeque, Charl McLeod, Odwa Ndungane, JP Pietersen, Cobus Reinach, Sean Robinson, Francois Steyn, Riaan Viljoen, S'bura Sithole.
