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| Ruan Pienaar has been given a true warm hearted Sharks send off |
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| | Ruan Pienaar has been given a true warm hearted Sharks send off as he heads to Irish club Ulster on a two year deal which will see him playing with his former Sharks team-mate, Johann Muller.
John Mitchell is set to continue as coach of the Lions, with Dick Muir working with him as director of rugby.
There has been speculation about Mitchell's intentions for a while, but his move was confirmed, rather ironically, at a Wallaby press conference today where Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe told reporters that Mitchell had sent him a text message to say he was going to leave the job a year ahead of his stipulated contracted tenure.
The former All Black coach has been working with the Lions in the Absa Currie Cup while Muir has been away with the Springboks.
Current Wallaby assistant coach Richard Graham will take over as Western Force head coach.
Springboks: 15 Francois Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (capt), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp. Reserves: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Gio Aplon
The Sharks were the only team that defeated the Vodacom Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld during the 2009 Absa Currie Cup and will be hoping that history repeats itself when these sides meet in Pretoria on Saturday at 7.15.
The Sharks are currently in first position on the log with 35 points and are 12 clear of the Bulls who are in fourth place on 23. The Sharks, who have won their last seven consecutive games in the 2010 competition after going down to the GWK Griquas (40-34) in week one, have been labelled the most consistent attacking side this season.
The Sharks are the leading try-scoring side after accumulating 36 tries and have also notched up more points than any other team after eight games - 294. They also boast the second best defensive record this season after conceding 169 points. Only Vodacom Western Province (118) has conceded fewer points in this year's competition.
However the Vodacom Blue Bulls, who conceded their fourth defeat in this season's competition during their 22-21 defeat to the Barloworld Toyota Pumas in Nelspruit last Friday, will be desperate to get back to winning ways to keep their aspirations of hosting a semi-final alive.
The defending champions suffered a 25-23 defeat to the Vodacom Free State Cheetahs in week three, but have secured victories over the GWK Griquas (39-38), Platinum Leopards (43-28) and the Barloworld Toyota Pumas (38-15) at Loftus Versfeld this year.
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