Sharks

Mandatory Credit: Photo: Simon King/ProSports/Shutterstock/BackpagePix

United Rugby Championship: Cardiff vs Sharks preview

The Sharks go in search of a Welsh double when they face Cardiff a week after earning their first URC victory against Ospreys.

Sharks

Mandatory Credit: Photo: Simon King/ProSports/Shutterstock/BackpagePix

The Sharks go in search of a Welsh double when they face Cardiff a week after earning their first URC victory against Ospreys.

Cardiff vs Sharks preview

Cardiff will be eager to bounce back from their defeat to the Bulls last weekend in a bid to avoid going three games without a win in the competition for the first time since last November.

Cardiff wing Owen Lane is among the competition’s leading try scorers with three five-pointers while Sharks fly-half Boeta Chamberlain was named URC StatMaster’s Player of the Week for Round 3. Chamberlain kicked three drop goals and was involved in both the Sharks tries.

Dai Young, coach of Cardiff, hopes his side learn from their brushes with South Africa’s elite franchises.

“There’s learning for us, we’ve tried to grow and develop our game. We’ve shown glimpses of how good we can be.

“It was only a matter of time before the South African sides started winning. We’re looking forward to it. It’s been a great learning for us and it’s fantastic to play against these teams.

“It’s great for the competition and it shakes everything up. We know we’re going to have to get better.

“They’ve got fantastic squads as we can see.”

On-loan scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar feels that the Sharks could be an unstoppable force on the 4G artificial surface.

“I think they’ll be disappointed after two losses and they’ll look to bounce back.

“This is a good team with a lot of international players and a very dangerous back line and if you give them time on the ball and allow them to gain some momentum so they can play with pace and determine the tempo of the game, then it will be a tough challenge.

“But if we’re accurate in attack and look after the ball, it will be tough to defend against us on the 4G pitch.

“Hopefully we can control things well again, get some good momentum and that will put us in good stead going forward.”

Team line-ups: Cardiff vs Sharks

Cardiff: Matthew Morgan; Aled Summerhill, Owen Lane, Willis Halaholo, Josh Adams; Rhys Priestland, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carré, Kirby Myhill, Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies, Rory Thornton, Josh Turnbull (captain), Ellis Jenkins, Will Boyde.

Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Rhys Gill, Dmitri Arhip, Teddy Williams, Shane Lewis-Hughes, Lloyd Williams, Ben Thomas, Hallam Amos.

Cell C Sharks: Curwin Bosch, Marnus Potgieter, Jeremy Ward, Murray Koster, Anthony Volmink, Boeta Chamberlain, Ruan Pienaar, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren, Thomas du Toit, Ruben van Heerden, Hyron Andrews, Dylan Richardson, Henco Venter, Phepsi Buthelezi (captain).

Replacements: Dan Jooste, Khwezi Mona, Wiehahn Herbst, Reniel Hugo, Gerbrandt Grobler, James Venter, Tian Meyer, Werner Kok.

Match information

Cardiff vs Sharks

Date: Saturday, 16 October

Venue: Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff (Wales)

SA time: 20h35

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

TV: SuperSport Grandstand / Rugby

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