Sharks prepare for big Lions roar

game and then mentally you just have to accept that in the first 20 minutes you are going to have to ‘vasbyt’ (until the lungs adjust) — you can’t get away from that and it is something we have become accustomed to.

“In saying that, we have survived and played really well at Ellis Park in recent games,” Everitt added. “The last time we played them we put together a good points tally and played an attractive brand of rugby. I believe we are prepared enough to be able to last the 80 at a high intensity.”

As for the Lions, Everitt said their shock 37-19 slaying of the Stormers in Cape Town in their last match says it all about the challenge awaiting the Sharks in the Lions’ den.

“They have picked a very similar team to the one that put the Stormers to the sword,” he said. “We are playing a team that is really confident and on the up after performing admirably in the overseas leg where all the SA teams struggled for results.

“They had a win over Zebre and ran a few teams close, and then came back and finished on a high by beating the Stormers. They will be confident and ready for us at 3pm at Ellis Park on a Saturday afternoon so we know what awaits us.

“The way they ran in tries against the Stormers makes them a really dangerous team,” Everitt added. “They have pace on the wings. They have Wandisile Simelane and Burger Odendaal in form and playing the best rugby that they have played for some time, so they really are dangerous.” SHARKS:

15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am (c), 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Jeandre Labuschagne, 6 James Venter, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Ox Nche.

Subs:

16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Reniel Hugo, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Tito Bonilla, 23 Jeremy Ward.

LIONS:

15 EW Viljoen, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal (c), 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruhan Straeuli, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole.

Subs:

16 PJ Botha, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Matt More, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel.