The Sharks have named their team of 22 that will face the Vodacom Bulls in their 2012 Vodacom Super Rugby opener in Pretoria on Friday evening.
The match kicks off at 19:10 at Loftus Versfeld, where the Sharks won their final league fixture last year to advance to the Vodacom Super Rugby Finals Series and deny the Vodacom Bulls a spot in the play-offs.
Three players in the starting XV - Riaan Viljoen, Tim Whitehead and Dale Chadwick - will make their run-on debut for The Sharks. Only Chadwick has not played at this level, while on the bench former SA U20 and Springbok Sevens star Paul Jordaan is also new in Vodacom Super Rugby.
The Sharks' team is: 15. Riaan Viljoen, 14. Louis Ludik, 13. JP Pietersen, 12. Tim Whitehead, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Patrick Lambie, 9. Frederic Michalak, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Marcell Coetzee, 6. Keegan Daniel (c), 5. Anton Bresler, 4. Steven Sykes, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Dale Chadwick.
Replacements: 16. Craig Burden, 17. Wiehahn Herbst, 18. Ross Skeate, 19. Jacques Botes, 20. Charl McLeod, 21. Meyer Bosman, 22. Paul Jordaan.