Patrick Lambie who made his debut for The Sharks in the Currie Cup last year has been named to start at fullback for Saturday’s Super 14 clash against the Highlanders.
Lambie played at fullback for the Sharks in a pre-season match against the Stormers at Newlands Stadium in January.
The Sharks face the Highlanders this week who will be playing their first match at home following their trip back from South Africa.
Odwa Ndungane has been ruled out which means that Stefan Terblanche moved to wing and Lambie will slot in at fullback.
Jean Deysel and Willem Alberts continue their rotation as do Keegan Daniel and Jacques Botes while Johann Muller will take over the captaincy from John Smit who has started every game and gets a break. Jannie du Plessis will start at tighthead.
Sharks coach John Plumtree said that for his team to secure their first win of the season they will need to play smarter. "When you are one or two points up with 10 minutes to go, you don’t want to be conceding penalties," he explained on the Sharks website.
"The game is all about pressure and composure. At the end of the day, we need to show enough composure to win the game.
"We’re pretty happy with our defence, we were in the Brumbies game pretty much all the way. We’ve lost four games by less than four or five points so it’s been very frustrating that we can’t win these close games."
Despite the obvious travel fatigue issue that will affect the home side, Plumtree doesn’t believe it will be too influential.
"It’s always tough to come back from South Africa, but they are a pretty courageous team. They beat the Cheetahs which is something we struggled to do, they play tougher at home so we know how difficult it’s going to be.
"We know that if we can hold onto that ball and build periods of attack and defend well, we can win. Our discipline has to be right, all the different factors that are letting us down need to be accurate on the day."
Sharks Team
15. Patrick Lambie , 14. Stefan Terblanche , 13. Adrian Jacobs , 12. Riaan Swanepoel , 11. JP Pietersen , 10. Andy Goode , 9. Ruan Pienaar , 8. Ryan Kankowski , 7. Jean Deysel , 6. Keegan Daniel , 5. Johann Muller ( C ) , 4. Steven Sykes , 3. Jannie du Plessis , 2. Bismarck du Plessis , 1. Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements 16. Craig Burden , 17. John Smit , 18. Alistair Hargreaves , 19. Willem Alberts , 20. Jacques Botes , 21. Rory Kockott , 22. Waylon Murray
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