Cape Town - The Sharks team play Griquas shows some strong continuity from Super Rugby for the opening round clash of the 2019 Currie Cup competition which kicks off on Friday night.

Newly appointed Currie Cup head coach Sean Everitt hasn’t hesitated in naming several youngsters on the bench, but it is in the starting line-up, that there are many familiar faces. 

Ten players for Friday evening’s starting line-up were selected in the Super Rugby quarter-final match against the Brumbies, with a total of 13 from the matchday 23.

Springbok legend JP Pietersen’s arrival from France sees him straight into the starting lineup at wing, while co-captain Jeremy Ward is at outside centre and Curwin Bosch is named at flyhalf. 

Ward’s co-captain Tera Mtembu is part of a quality pack that will no doubt be tested against the tough Griquas’ forwards who will relish the opportunity to have a go at their Durban counterparts, while the backline has an exciting, but very settled look about it.

The match kicks off at 19:15 on Friday.

Teams

Sharks

15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Jeremy Ward (co-captain), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Tera Mtembu (co-captain), 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Juan Schoeman

Substitutes: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 Gideon Koegelenberg, 20 Phepsi Buthelezi, 21 Sanele Nohamba, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Rhyno Smith

Griquas

TBA