Venter leads Sharks against his former team at Ellis Park

Flank James Venter will captain the Sharks against his former team the Lions when the sides meet in a Currie Cup clash in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The 25-year-old, who joined the Sharks from the Lions in 2020, starts in the No 6 jersey for the Durbanites.

After a solid 35-20 victory over Western Province in Durban a fortnight ago, the Sharks are building a good head of steam at this early stage of the competition and will hope to continue the momentum.

The opportunities afforded to No 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, flyhalf Curwin Bosch and centre Marius Louw at United Rugby Championship (URC) level has opened the door for the likes of Thembelani Bholi and Murray Koster to get starts this weekend.

The chance for players to move up to the URC squad also has a positive knock-on effect for promising youngsters to get a shot at Currie Cup level, with Junior Springbok Bradley Davids getting a call-up into the senior ranks.

Despite the solid start to the campaign, Sharks coach Etienne Fynn said they're looking for improvement.

"As always, you're looking for improvement in the areas that you lacked a little in the previous game and building on those areas where you were strong," he said.

"It's like a trifle, if you put too many ingredients in it, it becomes a mess, so for us it's about keeping it as simple as possible and getting better and better in the execution of what you know works."

The Sharks are unbeaten after two games in the competition and sit third on the standings.

Saturday's clash at Ellis Park kicks off at 17:00.

Lions

15 Quan Horn, 14 Boldwin Hansen, 13 James Mollentze, 12 Matt More, 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 Vaughen Isaacs, 9 Jurich Claasens, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 5 Simon Dinisio, 4 PJ Steenkamp,