Sharks v Stormers - teams and prediction

ROUND ONE CATCH-UP MATCH: The Stormers will be looking to not only cement their place at No.2 on the United Rugby Championship standings, but also avoid the ignominy of losing three consecutive matches.

The Stormers have lost their last two URC outings and have never lost three in succession in the competition.

However, they have won only once away from home since Round Four – a 31-22 triumph over the Lions in Johannesburg on October 29.

Currently in second place on the standings after 12 matches, the Cape Town-based franchise finds itself 16 points behind table-topping Leinster.

The Sharks played their way into the top eight last weekend with a 22-19 victory against Edinburgh in Scotland, with the Durban-based side now on 33 points after 11 matches.

A victory for the Durbanites, in particular, could catapult them into the top six on the table, with five rounds of matches remaining in the regular round-robin stages.

Stormers coach John Dobson had banked on a full-house 10 points from the Rounds 11 and 12 matches, but dropped one of those.

After beating the Lions 40-8 on December 31, they had to settle for a losing bonus point during the trip to Glasgow – losing 17-24 to the Warriors.

Having gone fully loaded into the two-week European Cup set, they then got hammered 35-5 by a fired-up Ulster side at Ravenhill in their Round 13 outing last week.

Stormers backline and attack coach Dawie Snyman played down the significance of the ‘losing streak’, but admitted they needed to ‘adjust’ their focus after not hitting the target in the pre-European block of matches.

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“The importance of this game [against the Sharks] has always been very high,” he told @rugby365com.

“This is a catch-up game,” Snyman said, adding: “So tomorrow is going to be very important in terms of the advantage we have over the South African teams.”

Dobson said the players that missed the trip to Belfast last week had been working hard as a squad back home.

“Any South African derby away from home is a tough assignment, so we will have to be as sharp as ever,” he added.

The Sharks’ Director of Rugby, Neil Powell, said he has deliberately not put too much emphasis on the importance of just one game and would rather his players focus on consistently raising their standards across the board.

“The importance for me is the effort that the players put in, as well as understanding their roles and responsibilities,” Powell told @rugby365com.

“It might be a big game [in terms of the play-off race], but for us, it is just the next game.

“For us, it is all about our standards and what we want to achieve on the field.”

The Sharks boss said there is a reason why the Stormers are second on the standings – with certain aspects of their game functioning very well.

“They have individuals who do very well in certain aspects of the game,” Powell said, adding: “We know there are quite a few things we need to get right to be successful.”

Prediction

@rugby365com: Sharks by five points

Teams

Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Marnus Potgieter, 13 Ben Tapuai, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Phendulani Buthelezi (captain), 7 Henco Venter, 6 James Venter, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Hyron Andrews, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste, 7 Dian Bleuler, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Bradley Davids, 22 Lionel Cronje, 23 Yaw Penxe.

Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Gary Porter, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Brok Harris.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Keke Morabe, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Date: Saturday, February 4
Kick-off: 14.00 (12.00 GMT)
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Griffin Colby
TMO: Marius Jonker

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