Sharks name 27 man squad for Super Rugby tour

Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold has named a 27-man Super Rugby squad that will tour Australia and New Zealand.

Gold has selected a forwards heavy squad and said, “I have gone for 15 forwards and 12 backs, my selection was based on who is fit and healthy, but the nice thing is that there are a lot of guys who can play in different positions. “

“We are looking forward to this tour. Tours are funny things, I’ve seen teams in far worse positions than us fight to get back and we not giving up the fight. I believe in this group of guys and I am keen to work with them in adverse times – that’s when you see true warriors come out.

“That’s our challenge: we are down but we’re not out and now is the time to stand up and fight back. If we come back fighting in the last six games, we’ll salvage a lot of respect”, he added.

Patrick Lambie, Ryan Kankowski , Pieter-Steph du Toit , SP Marais , Tera Mtembu , Paul Jordaan and Jean Deysel were not considered for selection either due to injury or suspension.

Sharks touring squad

Forwards

Lourens Adriaanse , Willem Alberts , Mouritz Botha , Renaldo Bothma , Dale Chadwick , Marcell Coetzee , Bismarck du Plessis , Jannie du Plessis , Stephan Lewies , Franco Marais , Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira , Lubabalo ‘Giant’ Mtyanda , Etienne Oosthuizen , Matt Stevens , Marco Wentzel

Backs

Lionel Cronje , Andre Esterhuizen , Conrad Hoffmann , Waylon Murray , Lwazi Mvovo ,Odwa Ndungane , JP Pietersen , Cobus Reinach , S’bura Sithole , Francois Steyn , Stefan Ungerer , Fred Zeilinga