Sharks coach John Plumtree is delighted to have locks Alistair Hargreaves and Ross Skeate both available to face the Pumas, amid a Currie Cup season full of mixing and matching in the second row for the Durban side.

Hargreaves returns to the starting line-up in place of youngster Jandre Marais, who drops out of the match day squad altogether.
 
"It's one of the few opportunities to play Ross and Alistair together at the same time, I want to give those guys a start and see how they play together obviously with an eye to looking forward to Super Rugby and see how they combine as a partnership," Plumtree said.

Conrad Hoffmann gets his chance to wear the No.9 jersey and his first real chance stake a claim on the scrumhalf berth in the side since moving from Western Province at the end of last season.

Hoffmann replaces Charl McLeod, who injured the AC joint in his shoulder last weekend, while Ross Cronje will add cover from the bench.

There is a switch in the back row, with skipper Keegan Daniel moving back to No.8, while Jean Deysel moves across to the side of the scrum.

The final chance in the starting XV is at tighthead, where the sharks rotation policy sees Eugene van Staden revert to the bench, while Wiehahn Herbst will wear the No.3 jersey.

Forgotten pivot Jacques-Louis Potgieter climbs onto the bench to provide cover for French ace Freddie Michalak.

The Pumas are without a win in their Currie Cup campaign, but haven't disgraced themselves by any means, and have claimed several bonus points for narrow losses.

"We have a lot of respect for this Pumas side, they've certainly played really well all year," Plumtree said.

"We just want to focus on getting a win, I'm sure they'll want to do the same."

Plumtree also highlighted the work his side have done on their attacking options this week.

"We're trying to grow our attack and have done quite a bit of work on it this week, but we're not talking about the Pumas, we're trying to talk about what we want to do and that's very important," he added.

Sharks: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Sibusiso Sithole, 13 Stefan Terblanche, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Conrad Hoffmann, 8 Keegan Daniel (captain), 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Jean Deysel, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Alistair Hargreaves, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Dale Chadwick.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Anton Bresler, 19 Jacques Botes, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22 Adrian Jacobs.

Date: Saturday, September 10
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant referees: tbc, Phillip Bosch
TMO: Allan O'Connell