Sharks v Lions: Giants clash

THE Sharks begin their Super Rugby Campaign today, 5.15pm, with a tough encounter against last year’s finalists, and the top South African team for two years running, the Lions.

Heading to Johannesburg, the hardest part of this week of preparation must have been for coach Robert du Preez having to make his 23-man selection.

There are a few players who will count themselves unlucky to not have made it, but it is a sign of the depth and class in the side.

The Sharks have done all they can to make the right selection choices, playing two very different warm-up games against the Bulls and French side Racing 92, in Hong Kong. Both games were highly suc cessful, and the Sharks showed glimmers of promise and potential.

“Every player was given an opportunity during the warm-up games and so many of them put their hands up, which made it extremely difficult to decide on our match day 23,” Du Preez explained.

“Naturally, the guys who have been left out will feel desperately disappointed as they have all put in the hard yards.

“I stressed the fact that this campaign is going to be a squad effort and every guy will be called upon, at different stages, to contribute to the team’s goals.”

In the forwards, Du Preez has felt comfortable enough to leave Springboks Beast Mtawarira and Dan du Preez on the bench, allowing Juan Schoeman and Keegan Daniel to show their mettle in this key game.

“We did that because Beast has had about a month break,” Du Preez explained.

“When we got back from Racing he joined us then. He is looking good, but we wanted to bring him back in slowly, so he should get about 30 minutes or so.

“The same goes for Dan, he had a groin niggle, but he is good to go now. But we also wanted to reward the guys that worked incredibly hard.”

This level of depth, and the ability to call on three Springboks, including Curwin Bosch, off the bench, means that the Sharks could have an extra edge going into the last 20 or so minutes of the game on the highveld.

The Lions have at their disposal a bevy of Springboks with eight in the starting line-up, but just one on the bench in Rohan Janse van Rensburg. It could well be a defining feature in this game if the teams are within touching distance when the bench is called upon.

The Lions have emerged as a force in South African rugby again after years in the literal wilderness where they were kicked from the competition.

Against the Sharks, their record shows their improved performance as in the 19 games played the Lions have won eight to the Sharks 10, and there has been one draw. However, the last five games have all been won by the Lions.

Meanwhille, Stormers skipper Siya Kolisi says their main focus for their “most important game of the season” against the Jaguares today is to employ everything they’ve worked on during the pre-season, writes

Wynona Louw

The Stormers will kick off their Super Rugby campaign against the Argentinians at Newlands (kick-off 3.05 pm) before going on tour – where they will face the Waratahs, Crusaders and Highlanders.

Kolisi said they’ve put a lot of work into their fitness and their conditioning during the pre-season as they want to continue playing “exciting” rugby in 2018, and added that they know what to expect from the Jaguares side.

“We’re excited. We had a good pre-season and we obviously want to be better than we were last year. I felt that last year we improved from the previous year,” The Springbok loose forward said.

Last year, the Stormers boasted an impressive winning streak before they succumbed to the Lions just before going on tour ... a tour during which they suffered defeats to the Crusaders, Highlanders and Hurricanes.