Deysel leads 'new' Sharks

Jean Deysel will lead a new-look Sharks that travel to Cape Town to take on Western Province in the opening round of Currie Cup action.

The starting XV shows exactly that number of changes, 15, from that which featured in the Super Rugby Final against the Chiefs last week.

That was to be expected - with 10 players on international duty with the Springboks, two more injured and another two departed abroad.

The only player who started in the Final in Hamilton last week, Paul Jordaan, moves out position out - from No.12 to No.13.

Ironically only one player, Rosko Specman (named on the bench), is yet to play at either Currie Cup or Super Rugby level.

Deysel will captain the side for the Currie Cup season in the absence of Keegan Daniel, who is one of the 10 missing Boks.

He will be able to call on other seasoned players like fellow Boks Odwa Ndungane and Meyer Bosman, as well as centurion Jacques Botes, for assistance.

Not considered for this match were lock Anton Bresler and scrumhalf Charl McLeod, who have carried a heavy workload and should slot back into the team from next week.

The injured pair of centre Tim Whitehead and lock Pieter-Steph du Toit are likely to miss the first five or six games and return to action for the second half of the season.

Sharks: 15 Gouws Prinsloo, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 S'bura Sithole, 10 Riaan Viljoen, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Tera Mtembu, 7 Jean Deysel (captain), 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Jandré Marais, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Dale Chadwick.

Replacements: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Julian Redelinghuys, 18 Peet Marais, 19 Francois Kleinhans, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Marius Joubert, 22 Rosko Specman.

Date: Saturday, August 11

Venue: Newlands, Cape Town

Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)

Referee: Lourens van der Merwe

Assistant referees: Jason Jaftha, Marc van Zyl

TMO: JC Fortuin