Ken Borland

The Sharks’ Currie Cup stars have enjoyed a five-week break in the sun and fun of Durban, but now is the time for them to start filtering back into action, with coach Sean Everitt on Thursday naming 13 of the squad that played in the final in the line-up for Saturday’s preparation series match against the Lions in Johannesburg. New arrival Siya Kolisi is still conspicuous by his absence, however.

Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Lukhanyo Am, Dylan Richardson, Thomas du Toit and Curwin Bosch will all return to action on Saturday, but Springbok captain Kolisi will have to wait a little longer for his first match in the Black and White jersey following his move from the Stormers.

“These matches are about opportunity and game time for the whole 45-man squad and we’ve rotated after two matches because it’s time to make changes now and bring the seniors back. After a five-week break they ae ready to rock-and-roll. We showed we can vary our play in the Currie Cup and now it’s about developing confidence in our style of play.

“Siya is still in his pre-season, he’s just completed his first full week of training. Our defence and attack systems are very different to what he’s used to and it does take time. We’ll give hm a go next week if we feel he understands our systems well enough, but it’s by no means a definite,” Everitt said on Thursday.

A couple of interesting new youngsters will make the trip up to the big city with the Sharks.

Centre Rynhard Jonker, the son of leading referee Marius, is a Glenwood High School product who Everitt said the Sharks have recruited for his utility and creative skills, while replacement lock Emile van Heerden is an U21 star who is the son of former Springbok Fritz.

Sharks – Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Lukhanyo Am (C), Rynhard Jonker, Yaw Penxe, Boeta Chamberlain, Sanele Nohamba, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Mpilo Gumede, Henco Venter, Reniel Hugo, Le Roux Roets, John-Hubert Meyer, Dan Jooste, Mzamo Majola. Bench: Dylan Richardson, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Thomas du Toit, Emile van Heerden, Thembelani Bholi, Grant Williams, Curwin Bosch, Marius Louw.

With Bulls coach Jake White believing the start of the Rainbow Cup is imminent, many of the youngsters he has fielded thus far in the preparation series have given up their rentals spots in the team as the Currie Cup champions get ready to face the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.

Springboks Trevor Nyakane, Marco van Staden, Cornal Hendricks and Morne Steyn all return to action, while regulars such as Ruan Nortje, Stedman Gans and Jacques van Rooyen have also been named in the 26-man squad as White starts to get his first-choice team up-and-running again ahead of European competition.

The Rainbow Cup is scheduled to run from April 17 to June 19 and will feature the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions playing in two pools of eight with Europe’s Pro12 teams. The regular Pro14 season is coming to an end with Leinster playing Munster in the final on March 27.

“If we work backwards from the British Lions tour and the Pro14 is now at the back end, then one month from now we will probably see the start of the Rainbow Cup. I think the Rainbow Cup is imminent and hopefully it all comes together for us in a month and, barring guys like Gio Aplon and Travis Ismaiel who have long-term injuries, we should have 90% of our squad fully match-fit.

“I want to see some of our youngsters with the stronger guys around them and a lot of thought has gone into the combinations. For instance, if we lose our Springboks then I need to know what our front row will look like. I’m happy with where we are, we have the best of both worlds with about 25 guys training with the conditioning staff and the youngsters playing every week,” White said on Thursday.

Friday’s match will also see Zak Burger get his first run-out with the Bulls and White said he had given the attacking former Griquas scrumhalf the same licence as a teenager at the sales with a gold card.

“I’m quite excited about seeing Zak. Whenever you play an opposition, you look at their threats and there’s no doubt whenever anyone played Griquas everybody was watching him. I’ve given him free rein, I expect him to make an impact because he’s very quick and he has a very good rugby brain. I’ve told him to have a go, be good at what’s he’s good at and not worry,” White said.

Bulls: Richard Kriel, Madosh Tambwe, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Chris Smith, Zak Burger, Nizaam Carr (c), Werner Gouws, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Janko Swanepoel, Trevor Nyakane, Joe van Zyl, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Johan Grobbelaar, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Jacques van Rooyen, Jan Uys, Tim Agaba, Keagan Johannes, Morné Steyn, Diego Appollis, Nolan Pienaar, Raynard Roets, Marnus Potgieter.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt bemoaned the errors that were littered throughout their game and through the full 80 minutes as being the reason for their exciting 39-38 loss to the Free State Cheetahs in their preparation match in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night.

The Sharks dominated possession and territory in the first half but were 28-7 down as the Cheetahs thrived on attacking off turnover ball, before the visitors pulled a try back to go into the break 12-28 down. The second half was a thrilling affair as the Sharks fought back and claimed a 38-36 lead, only for back-to-back mistakes to allow the Free Staters to kick a last-minute penalty to win the match.

“Our accuracy in execution let us down over the full 80 minutes and an example of that was the four or five attacking lineouts we had 10 metres out which we did not convert. But it was not one particular area that was affected by mistakes, it was all areas – kickoff receipt, lineouts, scrum penalties, breakdown. So we made a lot of errors which cost us,” Everitt said.

Replacement flyhalf Manie Libbok was at the heart of some dazzling rugby in the second half, coolly taking on the defensive line with his sleight of hand and foot, but Everitt was particularly pleased with the showing of the replacement front row, where things have headed south for the Sharks before.

“We did well though to fight back and be in a position to win. We always want to play ball-in-hand, but we can only do it if the conditions and the opposition allow it. We will kick if that’s maybe where the opposition weakness is. But playing attacking rugby needs a solid platform. All attack starts at set-piece and depth in the front row is vitally important,” Everitt said.

“We learnt some hard lessons in the Currie Cup but it was tough for those up-and-coming front rowers because Covid meant they did not get enough game-time and they weren’t able to scrum as much as they would have liked in training. But to see Ntuthuko Mchunu carry the ball and scrum like he did was very pleasing, especially since he was an eighthman at Maritzburg College two years ago before heading down to Durban. With him and Michael Kumbirai we are really growing our depth.”

Sharks coach Sean Everitt would have been apprehensive when his team went 7-28 down late in the first half against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Wednesday night, but in the end the KwaZulu-Natalians fought back superbly and it took a 40-metre penalty by Frans Steyn in the 80^th minute to scrape a 39-38 win for the Free Staters.

The Sharks had actually played decent rugby in the first half, but mistakes and turnovers allowed the Cheetahs to show their attacking brilliance as they ran in four tries to lead 28-12 at the break.

But in the second half the Sharks showed their attacking abilities, giving the Cheetahs defence a torrid time. The Sharks replacement front row of Michael Kumbirai, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Fez Mbatha showed they can perform at this level as they earned scrum penalties that helped pile on the pressure on the home side in the second half, while Manie Libbok came on at flyhalf and showed he will be a fine back-up to Curwin Bosch when serious competition resumes.

His linking and passing game constantly had the defence guessing and it was his brilliant individual play in slipping through a gap, regathering his own grubber and then kicking ahead again before passing to substitute flank Celimpilo Gumede for the try that gave the Sharks the lead with 13 minutes remaining.

The Cheetahs certainly played their part in a match that featured 11 tries and seemed to be played at a billion miles an hour at times, but eventually ensured they secured the win rather than risking whatever rewards would come from a more expansive approach.

Steyn was a pillar of strength at inside centre and once again showed why he is considered rugby royalty and he was bang on the money with the final kick at goal after a high tackle by the Sharks.