Coetzee has time to 'clear his head'

The Sharks' bye week could not have come at a better time for injured Springbok Marcell Coetzee.

The mid-season break will give the loose forward additional time to overcome the head-knock he suffered in the record-breaking 64-7 win over the hapless Rebels in Durban at the weekend.

Fellow Bok Ryan Kankowski replaced Coetzee on the half-hour mark, after the latter took a heavy blow to the head and did not return to the field after his mandatory pitch-side concussion test.

The Sharks confirmed that the only injury concerns from last Saturday's game are Coetzee, who has a mild concussion, and wing Lwazi Mvovo, who hurt his hand.

Both players will be assessed, but with the entire coaching staff and all the players given off this week, it won't be till next week that their fitness availability for the encounter with the Crusaders – in Durban on Friday, April 5 – will be determined.

Two other players who could come back into the selection frame after this week's bye are flank Jean Deysel and centre Tim Whitehead.

Coach John Plumtree said the biggest change in the build-up to the game was not the seven changes to the starting XV, but the change in attitude of the players.

"I was really confident in all the team changes, in fairness they paid me back for their selection and that's great," Plumtree said.

"For me to be able to have some choices now, even with all the injuries we have, is valuable."

He said they didn't do anything different in the build-up last week.

"Nothing changed in our preparations, barring one or two things in attitude," Plumtree added.