The Sharks host Munster in the United Rugby Championship in Durban on Saturday and the hosts badly need a win to boost their chances of making the play offs.
Sharks v Munster, Saturday 21st March, Durban, KO 17:00 (South African time)
Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (South Africa), Christopher Allison (South Africa)
TMO: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Weather Forecast - Durban
Sharks:
The Sharks are eleventh on the log with a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 7 defeats for 24 log points, 6 shy of a top 8 play off spot.
The Sharks completed back to back wins over the Stormers towards the end of January to put themselves in the play off picture but in February they went down away to the Lions (34-22) and the Bulls (41-12) to concede ground again.
Earlier matches against Irish opposition this season saw the Sharks lose at Leinster (31-5) in Round 3 and at home to Ulster (34-26) in Round 4 whilst in Round 6 they crashed to a 44-17 loss away to Connacht.
In the outright betting to win the URC title the Sharks are 25/1 with Hollywoodbets
Munster:
Munster come into the weekend sixth in the standings with a record of 8 wins and 4 defeats. They have 39 log points, 1 fewer than fifth place Cardiff and 2 shy of the Stormers, Ulster and Leinster who are 2nd, 3rd and 4th whilst the gap to leaders Glasgow Warriors is 6 points.
Recent results include a home win over Zebre (21-7) at the end of last month whilst at the end of January they lost 31-22 to the Warriors in Glasgow.
One earlier match against South African opposition saw Munster go down 26-21 at home to the Stormers in Round 6, they will take on the Bulls at Loftus next week and in Round 18 they host the Lions.
In the outright betting to win the URC title Munster are 12/1 shots with Hollywoodbets
Team News
Sharks: 15 Luan Giliomee, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Ethan Hooker, 12 Andre Esterhuizen (captain), 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Hanro Jacobs, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Phatu Ganyane
Replacements: 16 Eduan Swart, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Nick Hatton, 21 Bradley Davids, 22 Jean Smith, 23 Hakeen Kunene
Munster: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Calvin Nash, 13 Tom Farrell, 12 Alex Nankivell, 11 Shane Daly, 10 JJ Hanrahan (c), 9 Ethan Coughlan, 8 Gavin Coombes, 7 John Hodnett, 6 Seán Edogbo, 5 Tom Ahern, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Michael Milne.
Replacements: 16 Lee Barron, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 John Ryan, 19 Edwin Edogbo, 20 Fineen Wycherley, 21 Paddy Patterson, 22 Dan Kelly, 23 Brian Gleeson
The Betting,
Average early show
Sharks -7.5 points at 9/10
Munster +7.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Betting Angle
Tips and more news and betting angles for Round 13 of the URC will be available on Brent Graham's betting blog which is available here.
Plays for Round 6 of Super Rugby will be available here.
Finally, all this week's rugby tips from members of the Goodforthegame community can be found on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.
