The last of the five South African Super rugby franchises to tackle the Southern Kings when the two sides collide in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

The Durban side are fresh off their 10-try destruction job of Boland last week and ready for one final challenge before things get serious and Super Rugby kicks off next weekend.

Sharks coach John Plumtree is pleased with the depth he has at his disposal and there is healthy competition for places in the side.

Scrumhalf Charl McLeod will have the chance to state his claim for the No.9 jersey, while Freddie Michalak serves out the remainder of his bizarre ban.

However, McLeod will need to be at his best to get the nod ahead of the wily Frenchman, who looked to have a good understanding with playmaker Pat Lambie against Boland.

"I thought Fred played nicely at 9," Plumtree told the Sharks website. "He had a lot of really good ball, his kicking game was good, his option-taking good and I thought it was definitely a pass mark."

The Sharks midfield came under some scrutiny last season, but Plumtree is addressing that area of concern with Meyer Bosman, Tim Whitehead, Paul Jordaan and new convert JP Pietersen all impressing the coach in the pre-season.

"Meyer Bosman looked pretty good, Tim Whitehead looked good, Paul Jordaan was exciting on attack and I thought JP Pietersen looked good again at outside centre," Plumtree added.

The experiment of moving Pietersen to outside centre could be an inspired stroke of genius by the coach ahead of the new season.

"We will have to sit down and decide where we're going with this, chat to JP and decide if we go ahead with it," Plumtree explained. "Putting him into midfield gives us more X factor out wide. We will see, we haven't decided yet."

There a worry at loosehead prop with Tendai Mtawarira injured, but that has opened the door for Dale Chadwick to earn his stripes in the front row with the Du Plessis brothers.

The Kings go into the match eager to prove they are worthy of a place in the Super rugby competition next year.

Kings coach Alan Solomons is happy with how his side have fared in their warm-up friendlies so far.

"The game against the Bulls could have gone either way and I was pleased with the way we started against the Stormers, but they have a lot of class and that told in the second half last weekend," Solomons told this website.

The Sharks will offer a very different challenge to the Kings with their dominant pack of forwards.

"The Sharks are one of the top South African franchises and even without Beast [Mtawarira] they still have the Du Plessis brothers to give you a scary Springbok front row," he explained.

"It's going to be a big physical challenge for us and the Sharks have probably got a more powerful pack than the Stormers."

Solomons has tipped the Sharks to be the strongest of the South African sides this year.

"The Sharks have a hell of a bloody side and I'm predicating that they'll have a good season this year," he said.

"I think they'll be there and there about in finishing top in the South African conference."

Prediction: The Kings will want to give their coastal rivals a real test and will come out firing, but the Sharks forwards will grind them down and make things tough up front. Expect the floodgates to open in the second half and the Sharks to walk a win by about 40 points.

The teams:

Kings: 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Marcello Sampson, 13 Dwayne Jenner, 12 Wayne Stevens, 11 Norman Nelson, 10 Shane Gates, 9 Falie Oelschig, 8 Vleis Engelbrecht, 7 Mpho Mbiyozo, 6 Boetie Britz, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Darron Nell (captain), 3 Clint Newland, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Bobby Dyer, 17 Zane Killian, 18 André Schlechter, 19 Wayne van Heerden, 20 Reynier Bernardo, 21 Thembelani Bholi, 22 Siya Mangaliso, 23 Danie Faasen, 24 Earl Rose, 25 Matthew Tayler-Smith, 26 Kieran Goss.

Sharks: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Anton Bresler, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis (captain), 1 Dale Chadwick.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Julian Redelinghuys, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Ross Skeate, 21 Keegan Daniel, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Meyer Bosman, 24 Paul Jordaan.

Date: Friday, February 17
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 19.00 (17.00 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Christie du Preez, Phillip Bosch

By Timmy Hancox