Sharks XV vs Lions Currie Cup preview: Confirmed lineups

Home team	Sharks XV
Away team	Lions
Venue	Woodburn Stadium
Competition	Currie Cup
Kick-off time	6:15 pm (UK) 7:15 pm (SA)
Watch Live in the UK	Sky Sports

Sharks XV vs Lions Currie Cup preview as the sides meet in round six of the competition. Both sides have the same record after five games, with two wins from their five games. The Lions are ahead of the Sharks in the table with 13 points, while the Sharks sit on 10 points.

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Sharks XV vs Lions confirmed lineups

Sharks XV			Lions
Forwards
Kubheka		1		Schoeman
Van Wyk		2		Combrinck
Ngobese		3		Van Vuuren
Momsen		4		Qoma
Slabbert		5		Hattingh
Smit		6		Biyela
Barnard		7		Cairns
Mavesere		8		Du Plessis
Backs
Braude		9		Cilliers
Swiel		10		Francis
Rasivhaga		11		Nela
Purchase		12		Jonker
Matthews		13		Finca
Grobbelaar		14		Smith
Giliomee		15		Mentoe
Replacements
Marais		16		Sithole
J Du Toit		17		Ntshanga
Heunis		18		Dube
Botha		19		Sjoblom
Vyambwera		20		Gwiji
Loots		21		Moos
Masuku		22		Adams
Bester		23		Cannon

Recent Form:

Sharks XV (Home team): 

Result	Date	Competition	Opponent	Score
Loss	14th August 2026	Currie Cup	Griquas	55-21
Won	8th August 2026	Currie Cup	Boland Kavaliers	19-12
Loss	1st August 2026	Currie Cup	Stormers XXIII	36-28
Loss	24th July 2026	Currie Cup	Cheetahs	43-21
Won	17th July 2026	Currie Cup	Pumas	24-26

The Sharks suffered a heavy loss away to Griquas in round five, losing 55-21. The Sharks actually held a 21-17 lead on 38 minutes, but couldn’t get into half-time with the lead, conceding and going in 24-21 down. Griquas scored five tries in the second half; the Sharks failed to score.

Lions (Away team): 

Result	Date	Competition	Opponent	Score
Loss	14th August 2026	Currie Cup	Boland Kavaliers	29-38
Loss	8th August 2026	Currie Cup	Griquas	31-19
Won	1st August 2026	Currie Cup	Blue Bulls	42-19
Won	25th July 2026	Currie Cup	Pumas	52-29
Loss	19th July 2026	Currie Cup	Cheetahs	29-27

The Lions have now lost two in a row, having been at the top of the table after three rounds.

They flew out to a 17-0 lead after 14 minutes, but would concede the next four tries to be sitting 28-17 behind with 24 minutes to go. The Lions would score two more tries, with Boland scoring once in between to leave the Lions six points behind with seven minutes to go. Boland kicked a penalty in the final play to deny the Lions a bonus point.

Sharks XV vs Lions head-to-head record (last five matches):

Date	Competition	Winner	Score
26th July 2025	Currie Cup	Lions	46-5
21st September 2024	Currie Cup Playoffs	Sharks	14-16
3rd June 2023	Currie Cup	Sharks	29-21
1st April 2023	Currie Cup	Lions	34-22
4th June 2022	Currie Cup	Lions	32-38

The win for the Lions against the Sharks broke a trend of close matches between these sides. The Sharks had won two meetings before that, while the Lions had won two in a row before that.