Super Rugby Round 9 - Sharks look to redeem themselves

Having gone for four matches without a win, the Durban side will be looking for an accurate and determined performance in their clash with the 2015 champions in this away clash.

 

The Toyota Cheetahs, meanwhile, start their road trip Down Under on Friday at 11h45 against the improving Rebels in Melbourne. The South Africans rewrote the record books last weekend with their 14-try win over the Sunwolves, but they can expect much more stern opposition from the Melbourne team.

 

On Saturday, the DHL Stormers get the local action underway when they host the Reds in a 15h00 kick-off at DHL Newlands in Cape Town. The Capetonians are leading the African Conference at the moment but they will face a difficult challenge from the visitors, who would want to improve on their showing last weekend in Pretoria, where they suffered a 41-22 loss against the Vodacom Bulls.

 

Scrumhalf Nic Groom will play his 50^th Vodacom Super Rugby game for the DHL Stormers at DHL Newlands. The 26-year-old takes his place in a DHL Stormers starting line-up, which features five changes and a positional switch for the clash with the Reds, which kicks off at 15h00 on Saturday.

 

Also on Saturday, the Southern Kings return to action having enjoyed a bye last weekend. The Eastern Cape side host the high-riding Emirates Lions at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in what is expected to be an open, attractive fixture. Kick-off in PE is 17h10.

 

Elsewhere, the Sunwolves return home on Saturday having completed their maiden competition tour. They face the Jaguares at the Prince Chichibu Stadium in Tokyo in search of their first win in their debut season.

 

The Hurricanes entertain the in-form Chiefs in an early Saturday morning start in the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, while the Force and Waratahs tackle each other later the same day in Perth. In the only Sunday fixture, the Brumbies clash at home in Canberra with the Crusaders. The Vodacom Bulls have a bye this weekend

 

Highlanders vs Cell C Sharks

Date: Friday, 22 April 2016

SA Time: 09h35

Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin

Referee: Ben O'Keefe (New Zealand)

Assistant referees: Mike Fraser (New Zealand), Kane McBride (New Zealand)

TMO: Shane McDermott (New Zealand)

 

Team News:

·     Paul Jordaan has been ruled out because of injury, which means JP Pietersen shifts to outside centre with Odwa Ndungane coming into the starting line-up. His place on the bench is taken by S’bura Sithole.

·     Also named on the bench are Chiliboy Ralepelle and Jean Deysel, for what could be their first appearances this year.

·     Coenie Oosthuizen starts at tighthead prop with Lourens Adriaanse moving to the bench.

·     Flyhalf Garth April has been given a start and swaps places with Joe Pietersen while Keegan Daniel, in for Daniel du Preez at No 6, is the final change.

 

Stats:

·     The Highlanders have won their last three regular season matches against the Cell Sharks, though they suffered a 31-27 loss in the 2014 preliminary play-off match.

·     The Highlanders have won five of their last seven matches against teams from South Africa, a streak that has included both a win and a loss against the Cell C Sharks. The Highlanders have won their last eight matches at home, their longest streak since they won a franchise-record 13 straight home games from 2000 to 2002.

·     The Durban side has now lost their last three matches despite trailing at the break only once in that span (leading once, level once). They have won 9.3 turnovers per match, the most of any team and 3.4 more per game than the Highlanders (5.9), who have averaged the fewest.

 

Comment:

Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold: “It’s been tricky with the short turnaround because we have fewer training days, but the things that went wrong for us (against the Blues) are things we believe we can fix. We can’t defend for 80 minutes, we have to take our opportunities, and we have to ask questions of them. We want to start well and put pressure on them to chase the game, we want to take them out of their comfort zone because they’re not used to chasing the game. Strategically, it’s really important to start well against the Kiwi teams.”

 

Teams:

 

Highlanders: 15 Ben Smith (co-captain), 14 Matt Faddes, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Jason Emery, 11 Jack Wilson, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Liam Squire, 7 Shane Christie (co-captain), 6 Elliot Dixon 5 Joe Wheeler, 4 Tom Franklin, 3 Josh Hohneck, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Daniel Lienert-Brown. Replacements: 16 Liam Coltman, 17 Craig Millar, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Alex Ainley, 20 Dan Pryor, 21 Fumiaki Tanaka, 22 Hayden Parker, 23 Patrick Osborne.

 

Cell C Sharks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Garth April, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Tendai Mtawarira (captain). Replacements: 16 Mahlatse Ralepelle, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Jean Deysel, 21 Michael Claassens, 22 Joe Pietersen, 23 Sibusiso Sithole.

 

Rebels vs Toyota Cheetahs

Date: Friday, 22 April 2016

SA Time: 11h45

Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne

Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Angus Gardner (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)

 

Team News:

 

·     Toyota Cheetahs coach, Franco Smith, has made only one change to the team which overwhelmed the Sunwolves last weekend at home in Bloemfontein. Former Junior Springbok prop Luan de Bruin will be replacing Johan Coetzee on the bench.

·     Springbok flanker Teboho Mohoje will again start off the bench this weekend, his second appearance of the season.

 

Stats:

·      These teams have faced each other four times in Vodacom Super Rugby history and while the Toyota Cheetahs have won three of them, it was the Rebels who were victorious in their most recent encounter, in 2014.

·     While the Rebels have won four of their last seven matches, only one of those wins has been on home ground.

·      The Toyota Cheetahs come into this match after scoring 92 points against the Sunwolves, equalling the most points ever by a South African team in Vodacom Super Rugby.

·      They have won 13.3 line-outs per game on average so far this campaign, equal with the Reds for the most by a team this season.

·      Sean McMahon has beaten 30 defenders so far this season, the most of any forward.

·     The visitors won’t find the going as easy as last week, but they performed far better against quality opposition than the Rebels. Their only loss where the margin was more than 10 points was against the Emirates Lions (22-39), while the Rebels suffered significantly bigger defeats against the Hurricanes (13-38), Highlanders (3-27) and Vodacom Bulls (25-45).

 

Teams:

Rebels: 15 Jonah Placid, 14 Cam Crawford, 13 Reece Hodge, 12 Tamati Ellison, 11 Sefa Naivalu, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Nic Stirzaker (captain), 8 Adam Thomson, 7 Sean McMahon, 6 Jordy Reid, 5 Lopeti Timani, 4 Luke Jones, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 James Hanson, 1 Toby Smith. Replacements: 16 Pat Leafa, 17 Cruze Ah Nau, 18 Jamie Hagan, 19 Sam Jeffries, 20 Colby Fainga'a, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Kotaro Matsushima, 23 Sione Tuipulotu.

 

Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Nico Lee, 12 Francois Venter (captain), 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Neil Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Hilton Lobberts, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Nicolaas van Dyk, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Charles Marais. Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Danie Mienie, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Teboho Mohoje, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Fred Zeilinga.

 

DHL Stormers vs Reds

Date: Saturday, 23 April 
Venue: DHL Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off:  15h00
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen 
Assistant referees: Quinton Immelman; Cwengile Jadezweni 
TMO: Shaun Veldsman

 

Team News:

·     Springbok midfielder Damian de Allende will make his first start of the season at inside centre, and partners Johnny Kotze in midfield after co-captain Juan de Jongh was ruled with delayed concussion.

·     Frans Malherbe returns to the starting line-up to lead the side in one of four rotational changes to the forward pack.

·     He is joined by Oli Kebble in the front row, with Vincent Koch and JC Janse van Rensburg named on the replacements bench.

·     Rynhardt Elstadt makes his first start of the season at lock, with JD Schickerling set to make an impact from the bench, while in the loose trio Schalk Burger makes way for Siya Kolisi, with Nizaam Carr moving to No 8.

·     The Reds made two tweaks to the pack that lost to the Vodacom Bulls last weekend, with lock Rob Simmons back from a shoulder injury while Curtis Browning come sin for injured number eight Jake Schatz.

·      With Simmons returning to the starting team it means Cadeyrn Neville moves to the bench. 

·      There are two more changes to the reserves, with flanker Michael Gunn and centre Duncan Paia’aua coming back into the match day squad.

 

Stats:

·      The Reds have own three of their last five matches against the DHL Stormers, including the most recent iteration, though neither team has scored more than 23 points in any of the last five of these clashes.

·     The Cape side have won five of their last seven matches, though a three match winning streak was brought to an end in the last round in a seven point loss to the Emirates Lions.

·     The Reds’ only win in their last nine matches in South Africa, was a one point victory against the Toyota Cheetahs in Round 10, 2015.

·     The DHL Stormers are one of three teams (Crusaders, Rebels) who are yet to concede a try after defending for seven or more phases while the Reds have conceded six tries after seven or more phases, the most of any team.

·     Only Damian McKenzie (96) has made more carries than Samu Kerevi this season, who has carried 89 times in total.

 

Comments:

DHL Stormers Head Coach Robbie Fleck: “Our philosophy this season is to keep growing and learning from our experiences, and it is important that we make another step up against a competitive Reds side. It is great to be back home and the team is focused on delivering a worthy performance.”

 

Reds co-interim head coach Matt O’Connor: “There is no doubt in our minds how tough this match will be. The DHL Stormers have been the most consistent South African team over the last couple of years and we know how good we’ll have to perform to get the result at Newlands on Saturday.”

 

The Teams:

DHL Stormers: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Frans Malherbe (captain), 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Oli Kebble. Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Huw Jones, 23 Brandon Thomson.

 

Reds: 15 Karmichael Hunt, 14 Chris Feauai-Sautia, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Anthony Fainga'a, 11 Eto Nabuli, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Curtis Browning, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Ben Matwijow, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Andrew Ready, 1 James Slipper (captain). Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Sef Fa'agase, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Cadeyrn Neville, 20 Michael Gunn, 21 James Tuttle, 22 Duncan Paia’aua, 23 Ayumu Goromaru.

 

Southern Kings vs Emirates Lions

Date: Saturday, 23 April 
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth

Kick-off: 17h10
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Jaco van Heerden, AJ Jacobs
TMO: Christie du Preez

 

Team News:

·     Southern Kings head coach, Deon Davids, made nine changes to his starting line-up for clash against the Emirates Lions this weekend.

·     The tight five sees Schalk Ferreira starting in place of Sti Sithole at loosehead, Martin Ferreira in place of Edgar Marutlulle at hooker. Marutlulle is out with a knee injury, while Sithole is batting with an elbow injury.

·     Jacobie Adriaanse returns to tighthead – having recovered from a rib injury – in place of Tom Botha, who moves to the bench.

·     Steven Sykes is fit again to lead the side following his head bump against the Vodacom Bulls. Schalk Oelofse and JC Astle rotate as his lock partner.

·     Thembelani Bholi has recovered from his knee injury and replaces Stefan Willemse, with CJ Velleman starting at No 8 where he takes over from Aidon Davis.

·      Malcolm Jaer is moved from wing to fullback in place of Jurgen Visser, which means a start for JP du Plessis on the left wing.

·      Shane Gates is also back as vice-captain. Lukhanyo Am retains his spot at outside centre while Luzuko Vulindlu remains on the right wing.

·     The Emirates Lions suffered a huge blow with the news that fullback Andries Coetzee sustained an injury in training which is set to rule him out of action for six to eight weeks. Coetzee started off the bench in the last couple of games, with Jaco van der Walt starting in the No 15 jersey.

·     More bad news for the Highveld side is that prop Julian Redelinghuys (wrist) and Malcolm Marx (neck) were both sidelined for a couple of weeks because of injury. Corné Fourie, Armand van der Merwe and Ruan Dreyer forms the new front row, while Cyle Brink will now don the No 6 jersey.

·     Amongst the backs, Faf de Klerk runs out at scrumhalf and Howard Mnisi starts at centre.

 

Stats:

·      The Southern Kings will face the Emirates Lions for the first time in Vodacom Super Rugby and will be aiming for their first-ever win against South African opposition in the competition.

·     The Kings have lost five of their last six at home, with their only positive in that run being a 33-28 win against the Sunwolves in Round 6.

·     The Highveld side have won four, lost one and drawn one of their last six matches away from home with the full-time result mirroring the half-time result on all six occasions.

·      The Kings have scored all but one of their tries from possession originating from either a lineout (6) or after winning a turnover (5).

·      Elton Jantjies has kicked 34 successful goals so far this season, the most of any player, with an accuracy of 77%.

 

Teams:

 

Southern Kings: 15 Malcolm Jaer, 14 Luzuko Vulindlu, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Shane Gates, 11 JP du Plessis, 10 Louis Fouche, 9 James Hall, 8 CJ Velleman, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 Steven Sykes (captain), 4 Schalk Oelofse, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Tom Botha, 18 Justin Ackerman, 19 JC Astle, 20 Jacques Engelbrecht, 21 Ntando Kebe, 22 Stefan Watermeyer, 23 Leighton Eksteen.

 

Emirates Lions: 15 Jaco van der Walt, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Warwick Tecklenburg, 6 Cyle Brink, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Armand van der Merwe, 1 Corne Fourie. Replacements: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Jacques van Rooyen, 19 Ruan Ackermann, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Ross Cronje, 22 JW Bell, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

 

Other fixtures:

 

Saturday 23 April

07h15    Sunwolves vs Jaguares – Prince Chichibu Stadium, Tokyo

09h35    Hurricanes vs Chiefs – Westpac Stadium, Wellington

11h45    Force vs Waratahs – NIB Stadium, Perth

 

Sunday, 24 April

08h05    Brumbies vs Crusaders – GIO Stadium, Canberra

 

Byes: Vodacom Bulls, Blues