Giliomee starts at fullback while Khuthi Rasivhaga, Liam van Wyk and Rambo Kubheka play from the bench.
Junior Springbok fullback Luan Giliomee scores a try during the U20 International Series match against Fiji U20s at Wynberg Boys’ High School in Cape Town. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
Four Junior Springboks, including fullback Luan Giliomee, have joined the Sharks matchday 23 to face the Stormers in their Currie Cup match in Cape Town on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
Giliomee made his Blitzboks and Sharks United Rugby Championship debuts last season, while starring for the SA A team against the Barbarians, and helping the Junior Springboks defend their U20 World Championship title.
Both the Sharks and Stormers come off a win-and-loss record in the opening fortnight’s action, and each will be determined to rectify that record this weekend.
The Sharks Next Gen, coached by Neil Powell, will also be in action as title-holders in the SA Rugby U20 Cup, taking on the Western Province Bolts in the opening round in a 12pm curtain-raiser.
Baby Boks join Sharks line-up
Sharks XV head coach Mike Vowles has bolstered his side with returning victorious SA U20 Baby Bok stars in his quest to inject extra excitement to his Currie Cup side, off the back of their 43-21 defeat to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
“We’re a team that speaks about being process-driven and we want to build on our performances from week to week, so our expectation going into this match is that we have to be better than we were in the last two games,” he said, as his side prepare for their third away match in a row.
“There are certain things we did exceptionally well in the previous games that we want to build on, and to fix the stuff we didn’t quite execute as well as we should have.
“So the idea would be to improve and most importantly, put in a good performance for 80 minutes. I think we fell away in that back quarter in both games, so we want to make sure we put in an 80-minute performance on Saturday.”
In that regard, Vowles has made some adjustments to the group, including four U20s that have come back into the system.
Giliomee starts at fullback with Khuthi Rasivhaga, Liam van Wyk and Rambo Kubheka playing off the bench.
“They come with massive potential, they’re exciting rugby players and we feel that including them will give us some punch in the final quarter of the game and that they have a really positive influence on our performance,” Vowles explained.
“We know the Stormers come off a big loss [losing 41-3 to the Boland Kavaliers] and there will be a response from them, they’ll come out fighting, so we anticipate a really high tempo, very physical match.”
Sharks team
Luan Giliomee, Christie Grobbelaar, Marnus Potgieter, Janco Purchase, Lyle Matthews, Tim Swiel, Ross Braude, Thomas Dyer (Captain), Danio Botha, Luaan Olivier, Deon Slabbert, Johan Momsen, Simphiwe Ngobese, Bryce Calvert, Cameron Dawson. Bench: Liam van Wyk, Phiwayinkosi “Rambo” Kubheka, Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, Hanu Pieterse, Jean-Henri Smit, Juan Loots, Albie Bester, Khuthi Rasivhaga.
