Sharks mentor Powell hopes charges avoid Durban demolition for return Stormers clash

Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell hopes his charges can have a better United Rugby Championship outing against the Stormers on Saturday at the Cape Town Stadium than they did when they hosted the defending champions last month.

When the Stormers hopped into Durban on an extremely hot and humid afternoon on 4 February, they dished out a 46-19 thrashing without being at their best.

While some of the Stormers' game components could have done with some improvement, they comprehensively outmuscled the Sharks.

The Stormers' brutal physical edge in that game was driven home when former Sharks lock Ruben van Heerden ran over Hyron Andrews on his way to scoring one of the Stormers' many tries on the day.

READ | Bosch handed Sharks captain's armband for Stormers clash, Fassi returns on the wing

Powell has shuffled his playing deck to include Aphelele Fassi at left-wing, a position he has played at Test level, but he also paired Gerbrandt Grobler and Emile van Heerden at lock to counter the Stormers' forward aggression. 

Moving Fassi to wing allows for Boeta Chamberlain to stay at fullback while Curwin Bosch will captain the side at flyhalf.

Powell admitted that beating the Stormers in Cape Town will require a monumental effort.

"We want to have a better performance than what we had when we played them here," Powell said.

"We had a good week leading up into that game and we've also had a good week leading into this game as well.

"I hope we have a better performance as compared to the one we had here because they're a difficult side to beat at home.

Stormers

15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie