Head coach John Plumtree expects a heavyweight contest between two powerful front rows when the Sharks and Lions lock horns at Kings Park.
Saturday’s rescheduled Vodacom URC round 8 clash will mark the teams’ opening match of 2024 in what promises to be a blockbuster derby duel in Durban.
The last-placed Sharks are desperate to reverse a 1-7 record in the URC this season with a home victory, while the Lions are in 12th spot and looking to make it five wins on the trot in all competitions.
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World Cup winner Ox Nche will pack down in a new-look Sharks front row with hooker Fez Mbatha and No 3 Hanro Jacobs. The hulking Kerron van Vuuren, one-Test prop Ntuthuko Mchunu and new recruit Joel Hintz provide backup on the bench.
The settled Lions trio of Asenathi Ntlabakanye, PJ Botha and JP Smith will provide a stern test for Plumtree’s charges, and the Sharks boss is relishing the set-piece challenge.
However, the Kiwi is acutely aware that the Lions are dangerous because they possess one thing his team doesn’t: continuity. This season the Sharks’ depth has been exposed, and they lack the rhythm of opponents who have been playing together for some time.
“The Lions have a lot of continuity in terms of selection and a group that’s played together for a long time,” Plumtree told reporters on Friday. “It’s a pretty cohesive squad, not quite the biggest, but they play really well together with what they have.
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“We want our scrum to do really well [against the Lions], it creaked a little last week against the Stormers, so hopefully we’ll see a big effort up.
“The Lions scrum really square and straight, they don’t walk around like we found the Stormers doing last week. Hopefully it’ll be a good scrum battle and plenty of power going square and straight and make it easy for the ref to manage and take out all the 50-50 calls.
“And as much as I’d like to see a good scrum battle, I’d also like to see the ball in play and have a good game to watch.”
Fellow New Zealander Hintz has joined the Sharks on a short-term contract, and on what Plumtree expects of the stocky 27-year-old, he adds: “He has played for wider training groups in New Zealand, hasn’t had too super a career as such but had a really good NPC career with Hawke’s Bay to date.
“It was really a case of seeing what he can do for us. I’m not happy with the depth we’ve got at tighthead prop at the moment. He’s also got a powerlifting career behind him, so he’s quite a powerful and pretty strong boy.”
Photo: Kim Ludbrook/EPA