Sharks v Brumbies preview

Two of the competition’s in-form teams, the Sharks and Brumbies, will face off at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday, 16 March 2013, for Round 5 of the 2013 Super Rugby tournament.

The Sharks initially received some bad news regarding their loose forward division, as Jacque Botes and Jean Deysel were ruled out for injury reasons; but with the silver lining is the return of Keegan Daniel, who will also captain the side.

Daniel will be joined by Coetzee on the other flank, and Kankowski at number 8.

Two changes have been made to the backline with Charl McLeod and Odwa Ndungane promoted to the starting XV.

The Brumbies have mixed-up their squad a bit, with five changes coming in from last week’s encounter with the Waratahs.

Scott Sio will make his first start at prop, while George Smith (open-side flanker), Fotu Auelua (No. 8), Tevita Kuridrani (outside centre) and Joe Tomane (wing) all get the starting nod.

Ben Mowen moves from number eight to flank, while Kimlin moves off the side of the scrum and into lock in place of Scott Fardy.

Rugby Informer prediction  the Brumbies have shown to have the attack prowess to score from anywhere, and securing an attacking bonus point against the ‘Tahs shows that they have no problem scoring tries. The Sharks have struggled to get over the tryline, but have dominated in every other aspect of the games they’ve played. It’ll should be a close affair, but a tough ask for the Brumbies in Durban. Sharks by 5.

The Sharks v Brumbies game will kick off on Saturday, 16 March 2013, at 17:05 (SA time).

Sharks team:

15 Louis Ludik, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Francois Steyn, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Keegan Daniel (captain), 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 19 Jacques Botes, 20 Cobus Reinach, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Lwazi Mvovo.

Brumbies team:

15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Fotu Auelua, 7 David Pocock, 6 Ben Mowen (c), 5 Sam Carter, 4 Peter Kimlin, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Siliva Siliva, 17 Ruaidhri Murphy, 18 Scott Fardy, 19 Colby Faingaa, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Robbie Coleman, 22 Clyde Rathbone.