Scrumhalf Ross Braude to captain the Sharks in a must win Currie Cup encounter against the Bulls on Friday.
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The Sharks XV will sign off their Currie Cup pool campaign against the Bulls at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Friday night, with coach Mike Vowles confident his side can finish the competition on a high.
The Durbanites have steadily improved as the campaign has progressed, and Vowles believes a complete performance is tantalisingly close.
The Sharks drew 22-22 with the Lions in Pietermaritzburg last week, a result that drew an enthusiastic response from their coach.
“That was probably the best 80 minutes that we put together in the Currie Cup,” Vowles said. “Just incredibly proud of the effort, the fight and the overall performance.”
The result has kept the Sharks’ faint playoff hopes alive, but they need to beat the Bulls, preferably with a bonus point, and hope other results go their way.
Vowles, however, does not want his players to become distracted by the prospect of a try-scoring bonus point.
“We want to put in a good performance that allows us to win the game,” he said.
“Once we feel that we’ve got that right, we can start looking at the bonus point. But for us, the focus is all about winning first.”
The Sharks are seventh on the points table, three points behind fourth-placed Boland Cavaliers.
“There are so many permutations, you can’t really focus on it, and the reality is you can’t control it,” Vowles said.
The coach has largely opted for continuity in selection, although there is one change to the loose trio, with Hanu Pieterse returning at No 8 and Tino Mavesere moving to No 6 in place of Jean-Henri Smit.
“I think the combinations are starting to understand each other; there’s a good cohesion among the group now,” Vowles said.
“From a team selection point of view, we’ve gone with a relatively unchanged 23 because we want to reward performances.
“We felt that the group did a really good job for us against the Lions, so we want to give them another opportunity to put their hand up.”
Although the Bulls are winless, they have scored plenty of tries and collected a pile of bonus points, making them a potentially dangerous opponent.
“It’s another tough one. In this Currie Cup there are no easy games,” Vowles said. “But we are looking forward to playing at the Tank. It’s a real privilege to play there. We’ll be up for it.”
SHARKS XV: 15 Luan Giliomee, 14 Christie Grobbelaar, 13 Lyle Matthews, 12 Janco Purchase, 11 Khuthi Rasivhaga, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Ross Braude (c), 8 Hanu Pieterse, 7 Meno Barnard, 6 Tino Mavesere, 5 Deon Slabbert, 4 Johan Momsen, 3 Simphiwe Ngobese, 2 Liam van Wyk, 1 Rambo Kubheka.
Bench: 16 Jacques Marais, 17 Jaco du Toit, 18 Dian Heunis, 19 Danio Botha, 20 Wasi Vyambwera, 21 Juan Loots, 22 Siya Masuku, 23 Albie Bester.
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