Durban — Considering the Sharks have 25 first-choice players in Wales for a URC match, the team picked to play a Currie Cup match against Western Province on Sunday is reasonably strong.
Indeed, coach Joey Mongalo has the luxury of having URC players Dylan Richardson, Hyron Andrews and Lionel Cronje on the bench.
He also has a measure of consistency from the side that narrowly lost away to Griquas last week.
“It was a tough week for us after that performance against Griquas because I thought we did very well in the first half of that game,” Mongalo said. “So we’re obviously disappointed with how we dealt with it after halftime.”
The up-and-coming Mongalo says he has to be philosophical about playing second fiddle in terms of the availability of players.
“Weeks of adversity have a way of bringing groups together, we don’t want adversity to divide us, but to bring us closer together and there are definitely guys in the group — especially those who played in the Griquas game — who want to set the record straight.”
Province have had a good start to their campaign and Mongalo has no illusions as to the stern test his team faces.
“We as a group realise the magnitude of the game. This Province team won away at the Lions and also beat the Bulls’ URC team, so they’re a side with a lot of confidence.
“But for us, it’s round three of this heavyweight boxing clash, and we’re a team that’s building, we believe that the longer we are together, the better we will play for longer periods of time. At the moment we’re playing well in short bursts and we want that connection and cohesion to last longer in games.”
Sharks – 15 Yaw Penxe, 14 Phikolomzi Sobahle, 13 Murray Koster (capt), 12 Francois Venter, 11 Marnus Potgieter, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 James Venter, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Corne Rahl, 3 Kutha Mchunu, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Khwezi Mona.
Subs: 16 Jason Alexander, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Marco Palvi, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Dylan Richardson, 21 Tiaan Fourie, 22 Lionel Cronje, 23 Alwayno Visagie
IOL Sport