On Friday evening in Durban, Keegan Daniel will become the 27th South African and fifth member of the current Cell C Sharks squad to reach 100 Vodacom Super Rugby caps when his team take on the Highlanders.
Daniel, who made his debut at this level against the Reds in Durban on 1 April 2006, is a former captain of the Cell C Sharks.
Apart from leading the KwaZulu-Natalians to their Absa Currie Cup triumph last year, he also led the team from Durban out when they upset the odds to make it all the way to the Vodacom Super Rugby final in 2012, despite sneaking into the playoffs in sixth position on the log.
The versatile Daniel played an instrumental role as the Cell C Sharks first travelled to Brisbane to eliminate the Reds, then beat the DHL Stormers in Cape Town in the semi-final before flying all the way back to Hamilton in New Zealand, where they unfortunately came up short against the Chiefs in the final.
The Cell C Sharks’ focus will be on defence when they host the Highlanders in their penultimate home pool match at Growthpoint Kings Park in Durban on Friday evening.
The visitors from Dunedin, fresh from a bye last weekend and a win over the Vodacom Bulls the week before, start their South African tour with a tough match against the table-topping Cell C Sharks.
The home team will have taken notice of the fact that no other team in the competition have forced their opponents to miss as many tackles as the Highlanders. The team from Otago’s opponents have tackled at a competition low of 84% this year.
But the Cell C Sharks, whose Australasian tour starts in Melbourne next week, have been superb on defence – they’ve conceded a competition-low of only nine tries all season, which equates to one try every 71 minutes.
“The challenge for us is to focus on getting a result against the Highlanders,” said Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Jake White.
“It’s our last home game for a long while and we have to keep the momentum going, whether it’s the Highlanders here or the Rebels the following week.
“New Zealand rugby has always been strong. They are a good team, they have some good players, Ben Smith and Aaron Smith are probably the two form players in New Zealand, and have been for the last couple of seasons, not just this year.”
The teams are:
- Cell C Sharks: Lwazi Mvovo, Tonderai Chavhanga, S’bura Sithole, Frans Steyn, JP Pietersen, Tim Swiel, Charl McLeod, Keegan Daniel, Jean Deysel, Marcell Coetzee, Stephan Lewies, Willem Alberts, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis (captain), Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: Kyle Cooper, Dale Chadwick, Lourens Adriaanse, Ettienne Oosthuizen, Ryan Kankowski, Stefan Ungerer, Heimar Williams, SP Marais.
- Highlanders: Ben Smith (co-captain), Richard Buckman, Malakai Fekitoa, Shaun Treeby, Patrick Osborne, Lima Sopoaga, Aaron Smith, Nasi Manu (co-captain), Shane Christie, Elliot Dixon, Joe Wheeler, Jarrad Hoeata, Chris King, Liam Coltman, Kane Hames. Replacements: Ged Robinson, Craig Millar, Ma’afu Fia, Josh Bekhuis, Gareth Evans, Fumiaki Tanaka, Trent Renata, John Hardie.
Date: Friday, 25 April
SA Time: 19h10
Venue: Growthpoint Kings Park, Durban
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Stuart Berry (South Africa), Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
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