"In naming their pre-season training squad ahead of the 2016 Vodacom Super Rugby season, the Cell C Sharks have confirmed that last year’s captain Marco Wentzel is among a clutch of players released to find employment elsewhere.
The veteran lock took over the leadership reins when Bismarck du Plessis, initially appointed for the season, was suspended during last year’s Super Rugby tournament. Coach and director of rugby Gary Gold felt he did a good enough job to carry on as captain once Du Plessis returned. Other players who were regulars in Super Rugby who have been released early include flyhalf Lionel Cronje and former Springbok centre Waylon Murray.
Other players that the sixth South African franchise, the Kings, can target as they look to boost their minimal playing resources are locks Nathan Astle and Wiehan Hey, as well as fullback Jaco van Tonder.
There were more players dropped from the Sharks’ plans as the Durban union looks to streamline, something that has already happened at the coaching group level, with Gold stressing that there will be a strong focus on forward going forward and those who don’t produce will be cut.
Former Stormers lock Ruan Botha has been included in the squad, thus confirming the swop with Springbok Pieter-Steph du Toit. As Botha is a highly promising player himself, the departure of Botha from the Cape does partially offset the arrival of the seemingly perennially injured Du Toit. It means the Stormers now lack the depth they thought they’d boast in that position.
Players in the group who have arrived in Durban subsequent to the end of the last Super Rugby season include former Cheetahs stars Coenie Oosthuizen and Joe Pietersen, while Willie le Roux will be joining up once the Japanese season ends early next year. The same for Marcell Coetzee, former Waratahs lock/loose-forward Jacques Potgieter and Renaldo Bothma.
Talking of Bothma, who was recruited from the Pumas last year, there is place in the Sharks squad for massive lock Lubalalo ‘Giant’ Mtyanda, but time will tell whether he survives the cut once the new season approaches. Players who won’t be part of the initial group because they are busy recuperating from injuries are Bok prop Beast Mtawarira, scrumhalf Conrad Hoffmann, the two Du Preez brothers, Jean-Luc and Daniel, as well as Juan Schoeman, Khaya Majola, Lourens Adriaanse, Stephan Lewies and Tera Mtembu.
Compared to past seasons, the squad does look a little light, with the two Du Plessis brothers, Bismarck and Jannie, plus Willem Alberts and Frans Steyn among the previous star players who won’t be back to be part of the 2016 challenge. It looks like the Sharks are heading into a rebuilding period rather than mounting an immediate challenge for the Super Rugby title.
Sharks pre-season training squad
Forwards: Ayron Schramm, Barend Potgieter, Christiaan de Bruin, Coenie Oosthuizen, Dale Chadwick, David McDuling, Etienne Oosthuizen, Franco Marais, Francois Kleinhans, Gerhard Engelbrecht, Hyron Andrews, Jean Deysel, Kyle Cooper, Tendai Mtawarira, Lubabalo Mtyanda, Monde Hadebe, Mazamo Majola, Philip van der Walt, Ruan Botha, Sias Koen, Thomas du Toit.
Backs: Andre Esterhuizen, Cobus Reinach, Garth April, Heimar Williams, Innocent Radebe, Joe Pietersen, Johan Deysel, Lukhano Am, Lwazi Mvovo, Marius Louw, Michael Claassens, Odwa Ndungane, Patrick Lambie, Paul Jordaan, Sibusiso Nkosi, S’bura Sithole, Stefan Ungerer, Wandile Mjekevu."
There is one name glaringly missing in the above report. That is Fransie Steyn. Steyn had a contract with SARU and not the Sharks - the arrangement was that he would be made available to play for the Sharks.. That three year contract terminated in 2015 and Steyn clearly is not on the renewal list for contracting by SARU - neither is he on the list for layers to be contracted by the Sharks themselves. What is clear is he is NOT on the list of contracted players of the Sharks and that he will not play for them in future. If h was any good that would not have happened to him.
