RUGBY NEWS - Former Southern Kings flyer Makazole Mapimpi heads an impressive trio of players who will be making their first appearances as members of a Cell C Sharks match day squad in Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby opener against the Emirates Lions.
Mapimpi, who was playing in the GuinnessPRO14 for the Cheetahs not that long ago, is joined in the starting team for the Johannesburg match by Robert du Preez. The latter is of course the man who helped dismantle the Sharks’ Currie Cup chances when he was wearing the blue and white hoops of Western Province last year but he is now a welcome addition to the team coached by his father of the same name.
There are in fact only two Du Preez’s in the Sharks 23 and flyhalf Robert is the only member of the clan in the starting team. It will be recalled that flanker Jean-Luc was injured in last year’s Currie Cup final while No 8 Daniel, like some of the other Sharks Boks, is making a delayed start to the season by playing off the bench in the Emirates Airlines Park clash.
Talking of the bench, the reserves could be the Sharks strength in this clash. One player who the Lions will know well is their former teammate Akker van der Merwe. The hooker, nicknamed the Angry Warthog by Supersport in-studio analyst Nick Mallett, is now set to perform the same role as he did at his former union, that of an impact sub who can dramatically change the course of a game with his presence.
Van der Merwe is the third member of the trio of newcomers, and he is joined on the bench by Bok prop Beast Mtawarira, as well as three players who played a big part in last year’s Currie Cup challenge – Michael Claassens, Curwin Bosch and Kobus van Wyk.
