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Sharks bring back some Boks

Thursday 27th March 2008

AJ Venter: Back in action

Three Springboks have returned to the Sharks line-up for their Super 14 match against the Reds at Absa Stadium on Saturday.

Ruan Pienaar returns at scrum-half, knocking Rory Kockott down to the bench. In the pack, lock AJ Venter replaces Albert van den Berg, and Jannie du Plessis comes in for another Springbok, BJ Botha.

Van den Berg and Botha are also on the bench, as is new signing Epi Taione, who has been bracketed as either a forward or a back replacement - he has played both as a flanker and a wing in his career.

Venter returns as a result of his passing a fitness test on Thursday, but centre Adi Jacobs failed a test on a hamstring pull and was not considered.

All in all, there are four internationals on the bench, and with cool weather conducive to running rugby expected, the Reds will regard this line-up with some trepidation.

Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Bradley Barritt, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Francois Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jacques Botes, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Johann Muller (c), 4 AJ Venter, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 BJ Botha, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Steven Sykes, 20 Epi Taione, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Frédéric Michalak.

Date: Saturday, March 29
Venue: Absa Stadium, Durban
Kick-off: 17:00 (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Assessor: Dennis Immelman (South Africa)