SP Marais dropped from Sharks match day squad

Shake-up as Sharks change nineby Gavin Rich 04 September 2014, 11:48

The Cell C Sharks have made nine changes, including three positional switches, to the starting team for their fifth round Absa Currie Cup match against the GWK Griquas at Growthpoint Kings Park on Saturday.

There are some surprises in the list of changes from the side that was beaten by the Pumas last week, with SP Marais dropping out of the match day squad completely and Jaco van Tonder coming in at fullback. Marais wasn’t among the list of injured players that the media was notified about earlier in the week, so unless there has been a late mishap to the former Kings player, his omission from the 22 is mysterious.

No less mysterious though than S’bura Sithole’s switch to the left wing from outside centre after he devoted a proportion of a press conference call earlier this week talking up the experience of playing in the midfield and how the Currie Cup was helping him grow into the role. With Sithole in the No 11 for the Griquas game, Paul Jordaan switches from inside centre to the No 13 jersey, with Heimar Williams slotting in alongside him.

There have been significant changes to the pack, with Etienne Oosthuizen being cleared of his injury scare (hamstring) and switched to blindside flank, where he replaces young Frans Kleinhans, who is out for the rest of the season with a broken hand. Wiehan Hay comes in at lock for the other injured forward, JC Astle, while Stephan Lewies makes a welcome return as the middle of the lineout jumper. Oosthuizen was in the second row last week.

The front row has two changes, with Matt Stevens dropping back to the bench to accommodate Lourens Adriaanse at tighthead, while Thomas du Toit is back as the starting loosehead prop in place of Dale Chadwick after taking time off to recharge after a busy couple of months in mid-season where he represented the Junior Boks and made his Super Rugby and Currie Cup debuts.

Tim Swiel, who made his debut for the Sharks in Super Rugby but never quite made it as a flyhalf, has been included on the Sharks bench in what looks like cover for his new position of fullback.

CELL C SHARKS TEAM: 15.Jaco van Tonder, 14.Odwa Ndungane, 13.Paul Jordaan, 12.Heimar Williams, 11.S’bura Sithole, 10.Fred Zeilinga, 9.Conrad Hoffmann, 8.Tera Mtembu, 7.Etienne Oosthuizen,6. Jacques Botes, 5.Stephan Lewies, 4.Wiehan Hay, 3.Lourens Adriaanse, 2.Kyle Cooper, 1.Thomas du Toit. 
Replacements: 16.Monde Hadebe, 17.Matt Stevens, 18.Marco Wentzel, 19.Johan Meyer, 20.Cameron Wright, 21.Lionel Cronje, 22.Tim Swiel.

Like I said when some of the one game wonder fan boys were calling for him to be a Bok player, he is average at best. (if memory serves me correctly one of S affex most recent lists contain him as the backup fullback.....However that may not be a current list as the Saffe x lists will change after each Curry Cup or under21 match.
The Sharks Super X side dropped him for his lack of pace and x-factor from the back, and now the Curry Cup team are doing the same. 
His best point is that he has a decent clearance kick. In the other facets of play he does not bring much to the the table. His biggest weakness is his lack of pace for a back three player. 
Their is a whole host of players that are better backup fullbacks like Aplon and Kolbe who have more skill in their little toe than SP Marais. Even Kirchner is a better bet. 
SP Marais may have played better for the Kings but it is still barely a SupeXV level performance at best.