Yes lets hopejake can work his magic on players like Frans and KanKan. SHARKS ARE MY PREDICTION TO WIN sUPER 15 THIS YEAR BARRING INJURIES AND BENT REFS
Cell C Sharks coach Jake White has advertised his high regard for Ryan Kankowski by choosing the No 8 in his starting team for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby clash with the Vodacom Bulls in Durban.
As Kankowski has only been back from Japan for just over a week, it was assumed White would give him more time to settle before selecting him into the starting team.
However, White did keep his cards close to his chest in the build-up week, so that may have been an indication that he had a surprise in store.
Willem Alberts had been touted in the Durban media as the probable starting No 8, as he was in the warm-up match against Saracens in London a few weeks ago.
Jean Deysel, a player highly rated by White and named as one of the vice-captains of the team at the start of the season, would then have started at No 7.
But blindside flank is Alberts’s best position and he is rapidly developing into one of the most valuable players in world rugby in that position. (ALBERTS IS NOT THE ANSWERS ON HIGHVELDT FIELDS - HIS PlACE IS UNDER THREAT AS WE HAVE MANY WORLD CLASS LOOSIES)
Deysel is in the squad on the replacement bench, and will add his momentum to the fray later in the match against the Sharks.
Kankowski is one of the notable additions to the team since the Durbanites sounded off the 2013 rugby year by winning the Absa Currie Cup final against Western Province in Cape Town.
Another is Paul Jordaan, who is back from injury and ready to make an impression alongside Frans Steyn in the midfield. Anton Bresler is also back after being absent with injury last season.
White has opted for Cobus Reinach as his scrumhalf ahead of the more experienced Charl McLeod, who was one of the key Sharks players in the domestic decider.
However, rugby has become very much a 23-man game rather than a 15-man one, and White might well reason that McLeod makes a bigger impact coming off the bench than Reinach does.
Certainly McLeod’s introduction in the second half of the Saracens match was responsible for a significant lift in the Sharks’ performance, and it was a similar story when he played off the bench in the Currie Cup season.
The only complete newcomer to the Sharks ranks since last year is prop Lourens Adriaanse.
After playing a pivotal role in helping Griquas to victory in a Currie Cup match in Durban last year, the Sharks will be hoping Adriaanse can make a big impact as back-up to the rock-steady Springbok veteran Jannie du Plessis.
Apart from JP Pietersen, who will be in Japan for a few more weeks, the Sharks team is their strongest combination, with most of the players fit and available. That White will welcome as this is being viewed as a massive game by not only the Sharks players and coaches but also the union’s administration.
CROWD SUPPORT
With the Sharks starting afresh, with a new coach, new captain in Bismarck du Plessis and John Smit as the new chief executive, there is hope that the team will use the early weeks of the competition to recapture the vibe of a previous Sharks era when what is now known as Growthpoint Kings Park was frequently filled to capacity.
While the Currie Cup is safely ensconced at the president’s suite at the stadium, the Sharks officials do give the impression that they envy the way the Stormers and Western Province manage to fill Newlands with such regularity.(PLEASE NOTE OAKS - WE HAVE THE BEST FAN BASE IN THE WORLD)
Even for the 2012 Currie Cup final Kings Park was only half full, and there is going to be a big drive to bring back the crowds that have become a rare feature in Durban in recent years.
In that respect, coach White, who doubles as director of rugby, is hoping that the fact his team starts at home and plays most of the first two months at Kings Park will be a galvanising force for Sharks rugby.
“We are eager to get the crowds in behind us and this is an opportunity to make a fresh start, with so much that is new both in the administration and the coaching staff,” said White at a media briefing this week.
“If we had been travelling early in the competition we might have missed the opportunity of making the impact we want to with the Durban people. So we know we have a great chance to get some early momentum and bring in the crowds behind us, and we intend to make use of it.”
The Sharks play six of their first eight games at home before they depart on their overseas tour in the second half of April.
SHARKS TEAM: SP Marais, Odwa Ndungane, Paul Jordaan, Frans Steyn, Lwazi Mvovo, Patrick Lambie, Cobus Reinach, Ryan Kankowski, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Anton Bresler, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Beast Mtwarira.
REPLACEMENTS: Kyle Cooper, Dale Chadwick, Lourens Adriaanse, Stephan Lewies, Jean Deysel, Charl McLeod, Heimar Williams, S’bura Sithole.
