Sharks’ England internationals are back for the visit of Bath as Gallagher PREM rugby returns to the CorpAcq Stadium (KO 3pm, Sunday 29th March). Bevan Rodd, George Ford, Tom Roebuck and Luke Cowan-Dickie all start against the champions after playing their part in England’s Six Nations campaign.
Elsewhere there’s a start for Nathan Jibulu in the unfamiliar openside flanker position while Rob du Preez is restored to his number 13 shirt after filling in at fly-half in Ford’s absence.
Sharks Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson has picked exciting academy props Ralph McEachran and Tye Raymont on a replacements bench that also features the experience of Dan du Preez, Marius Louw, Gus Warr and Tom O’Flaherty.
Loosehead prop Rodd and hooker Cowan-Dickie return to join tighthead prop James Harper in the front row for Sunday’s visit of Johan van Graan’s men.
Skipper Ernst van Rhyn once again teams up with Ben Bamber in the second row and Jacques Vermeulen, Sam Dugdale and Jibulu make up a dynamic back row.
Raffi Quirke starts again at scrum-half with Ford returning to his number ten shirt. That means Rob du Preez shifts to outside centre with Rekeiti Ma’asi-White inside him wearing 12.
Roebuck returns to the right wing with Arron Reed and full-back Joe Carpenter making up an exciting back three.
Ethan Caine is the replacement hooker and he’s joined on the bench by academy props McEachran and Raymont, who made his PREM debut in last year’s fixture against Bath. Jos Gilmore and du Preez are the other forwards named as replacements.
The experienced trio of Warr, O’Flaherty and Louw make up the rest of the bench.
Speaking ahead of the game, Alex said his team will need to start well to give themselves the best chance against a team that put more than 60 points on Saracens last weekend.
He said: “Bath were really clinical and really sharp last week and they’re number one in the PREM at scoring from transition, so we’ve got to limit or at least control how we turn the ball over to them.
“But that’s just one area. We know we have to be on it in every area of the game against Bath.
“We didn’t start the game against Exeter well enough and we can’t afford to do that again this weekend against the champions.”
Starting XV:
15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Arron Reed, 10. George Ford, 9. Raffi Quirke; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. James Harper, 4. Ernst van Rhyn ©, 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Sam Dugdale, 7. Nathan Jibulu, 8. Jacques Vermeulen.
Replacements:
16. Ethan Caine, 17. Ralph McEachran, 18. Tye Raymont, 19. Dan du Preez, 20. Jos Gilmore, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Marius Louw, 23. Tom O’Flaherty.
