Andre Esterhuizen reaches 50 Super Rugby games
Sharks head coach Robert du Preez has made minimal changes to the side which will face the Bulls on Saturday, with Andre Esterhuizen set to play his 50th match.
Following their dismantling of the Highlanders last week, there is just one alteration among the forwards with Jacques Vermeulen coming in for Philip van der Walt who took a blow to the face against the New Zealand franchise.
There is one more change – amongst the reserves – where Chiliboy Ralepelle, who is playing his 100th Vodacom Super Rugby game, coming in for Franco Marais on the bench. Ralepelle had played on 69 occasions for the Vodacom Bulls and will be playing his 31st match for the Cell C Sharks.
“One of the main things that we’ve seen since the loss to the Vodacom Bulls before that DHL Stormers game is that we haven’t been making as many errors and our set-piece is functioning a lot better,” explained number eight Daniel du Preez.
“The boys are starting to play well together and the forwards are finding momentum which obviously plays a big role.
“We are also really starting to build some consistency in our game and that’s giving us momentum.”
This game has a plenty riding on it, not only from a conference point of view, but for the Sharks to continue a good run of form.
“This is going to be a huge battle, South African derbies are never easy, there will be a lot of emotion,” Du Preez added. “The guys remember the game against the Vodacom Bulls a few weeks ago and I think the Vodacom Bulls will be hurting from last week.
“If you win the physical battle, then half the war is won. It’s something we work hard on every week and something we pride ourselves on.
“But it’s also important that we show patience, get the ball through the phases and if we can do, we’ll definitely get the reward.”
Sharks: 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ruan Botha (c), 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Juan Schoeman, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Wian Vosloo, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Lwazi Mvovo
Date: Saturday, May 12
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 18:15 local (16:15 GMT)
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge (South Africa)
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa), Archie Sehlako (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)