Sharks back to full Bok strength for Bordeaux Begles clash

With a heavy workload and playing in two concurrent tournaments, player rotation and welfare become primary concerns for the Durban outfit, who decided to give their front-line players a break last week in a bid to keep the squad fresh and hungry.

Ox Nché, Bongi Mbonambi, Thomas du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, and Siya Kolisi will power the pack up front, while the likes of Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi and Jaden Hendrikse will marshall the backline.

Bordeaux have not enjoyed the kind of success they would have hoped for and will come to Durban under pressure to perform. Equally, the pressure isn't off for the Cell C Sharks side despite having won both of their games in their first season of Heineken Cup rugby. But it's a good form of pressure.

"We're putting a big emphasis on the Heineken Cup, but in the same breath, we're also under a bit of pressure in the VURC with the resting period coming up for some of the Boks. We really need to perform in the VURC too and there is equal emphasis on performing in both competitions," Cell C Sharks prop Thomas du Toit admitted in the build-up to the match.

"But we aren't looking too far ahead, the biggest and most important match is the next one and we're treating it like that. Winning at home is important and winning this match at home is going to be vitally important in this competition and we firmly believe if we get points this weekend and more points next weekend [against Harlequins] then we will be sitting pretty in the competition.

"We will look to play for the full 80 minutes, it's something we strive towards and something we got close to against the Bulls when we started and ended well," "It's something we've spoken about, tried to improve and it's a big target for most teams: to get that perfect 80 minute performance."

Saturday's game kicks off at 5:15pm.

Sharks: 15 Henry Chamberlain, 14 Marnus Potgieter, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siyamthanda Kolisi (captain), 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche.

Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Carlü Sadie, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Phendulani Buthelezi, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Lionel Cronje, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg.