Although the Vodacom United Rugby Championship kicked off last weekend, the Cell C Sharks will be in action for the first time in this year’s competition this evening when they’re hosted by Zebre in Italy,

Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt explained his rationale behind the team selection, admitting that he was rewarding those in form while the squad misses a number of players unavailable for play.

“The make-up of our team is based on performance in our pre-season matches,” he admitted from Italy. “We have a long list of injuries, but we believe that this team has prepared and trained well in the off-season and can do the job while we’re here in Europe.”

While there is an element of youth about this Cell C Sharks team, Everitt explained that there is also a liberal helping of experience too.

“A guy like Rohan Janse van Rensburg has been a revelation for us, we’re very fortunate to have him in the 12 jersey as he brings a lot of experience to the group. We’re fortunate to have two very experienced centres to guide a young Boeta Chamberlain through this competition.

“We never would have expected to lose two of our flyhalves in the pre-season, but we’re fortunate to have a youngster like Boeta to step up to the plate. Last year this time he really grabbed the opportunity with both hands and performed admirably on our European tour and he gets the opportunity now after performing well in the pre-season friendlies, both at flyhalf and fullback.”

Someone who will be itching to show off his skills is fullback Aphelele Fassi who starts in the number 15 jersey. His coach can’t wait to see him in action.

“Aphelele has been on top of his game, he was outstanding in the two warm-up matches and has moved forward, knowing what he needs to do and what he needs to work on.”

Looking at Zebre who finished bottom of the pile last year, Everitt admitted that they’re a different prospect this season.

“They have a new coaching staff and they showed against Leinster last week that they’re an attack-minded team. They’re playing an exciting brand of rugby and they certainly performed well in that game.

“We’re wary of the challenge they bring, but at the same time, as the first game of the tournament, we are concentrated on ourselves.”

Captain Thomas du Toit, looking at the Zebre team upfront, gave similar warnings of the challenge his team faces.

“They matched the Leinster scrum, they play well off their lineout and maul well, so they’ve definitely beefed up their pack and we are aware of that. But we’re excited to put ourselves up for the challenge. They are a bit of a new team and with that comes some unpredictability, but we’re well-prepared.”

Talking second edition URC and the changes this time round, particularly no inconvenient Covid bubbles and the like, du Toit admitted that the team is in a much better place than this time last year.

“We’ve settled in much quicker this time, everything was new and a lot of players had never experienced anything like it before, but we’re ready to take the challenge head-on this second season.”

On the same subject, Coach Everitt explained that, “Having more of an experienced team on this trip is certainly going to benefit us. Having players with leadership qualities, guiding and developing the youngsters, is vitally important.”

He added that the first season review gave them food for thought for the next edition.

“We identified a few things we needed to work on. The challenges we faced were going into the unknown, but this time we’re more aware of what to expect.

“We’re up against teams that have their full international complement to select from, so we’re under no false illusions as to what is expected of us. That experience last year was good for us.”