It will be a battle between two Springbok-laden packs of forwards in Durban, where the Sharks and the visiting Stormers are geared for another titanic Super Rugby contest on Saturday.
The Durbanites were boosted by the availability of Sbu Nkosi, who has shrugged off his injury concerns. That allowed them to name an unchanged starting 15 for the third time in a row, and the same match-23 for a second successive game.
Meanwhile, Eben Etzebeth (lock), Herschel Jantjies (scrumhalf) and Dan du Plessis (centre) will all make their first start of the season for the Stormers in this coastal derby.
Etzebeth’s inclusion in the second row is the only change to the forward pack, with fit-again prop Wilco Louw among the replacements. Jantjies, who scored the winning try in last Saturday’s dramatic win over the Lions in Cape Town, replaces the injured Jano Vermaak. Du Plessis comes in at outside centre for Ruhan Nel.
Robert du Preez’s side have won four of their last five games against their Cape rivals, but their one defeat in that run came in their most recent meeting, in Round 18 of last season. A home win will give them three wins in a row for the first time since the beginning of 2017.
A huge scrum contest is expected on Saturday, especially with the home side having won all 21 of their scrums this season, the most of any side and one of six teams to still have a 100 percent scrum success rate after two rounds of action.
Sharks centre Lukhanyo Am reckons the previous two weeks’ results have given them some nice momentum but he cautioned that this weekend will be another tough derby challenge.
“We couldn’t ask for much better that the two big wins, it’s a confidence booster for us going into this week’s match against the Stormers,” said Am.
“Like us, the Stormers have a big pack and a good backline, we know we need to pitch up as far as physicality goes.”
Stormers coach Robbie Fleck said that his team are under no illusions about the challenge that awaits them in Durban.
“We know that we will have to be sharp in every area if we are to get the result we want in Durban. Our focus is on being as accurate as possible so that we are able to impose ourselves and our plans on the opposition.”
Teams:
Sharks:
15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Louis Schreuder (captain), 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Tyler Paul, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Hyron Andrews, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:
16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg, 20 Phepsi Buthelezi, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Jeremy Ward, 23 Curwin Bosch.
Stormers:
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 SP Marais, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements:
16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 Ruhan Nel, 23 Dillyn Leyds.