Rugby news from KwaZulu-Natal:
Aiming for the Treble:
The Cell C Sharks XV host the visiting Hino Valke side in a Currie Cup qualifying match at Growthpoint KINGS PARK in the curtain-raiser to the Super Rugby clash between the senior side and the Sunwolves on Friday afternoon.
Following on from their 36-27 victory over the Down Touch Griffons in a tough away clash last weekend, the Cell C Sharks XV will take confidence into Friday afternoon’s clash against the Valke.
Indeed, they will hope to make it three from three, having defeated the Leopards the previous week as they look to continue climbing the ladder.
The Valke have not enjoyed the best of seasons, particularly in a tournament like this where the bigger Unions send their top players into Super Rugby, while the smaller Unions are able to field hugely competitive teams. However, no opposition can be taken lightly and if there is one thing the home team would love to produce, it’s consistency in performance as they aim for a third successive victory.
Cell C Sharks XV coach Michael Horak has been able to name a side of experienced players together with exciting young talent, a blend that has shown potential in the competition. Many of the youngsters were, until recently (and some are still eligible), playing age group rugby.
But there is a strong enough calming presence of players who have had a taste for Super Rugby and who will look to provide leadership in this game, and as the season progresses.
The match kicks off at 4.14pm with the Cell C Sharks hosting the Sunwolves at 7.10pm.
Cell C Sharks XV
| 15. Morne Joubert | Replacements: |
| 14. Nkululeko Marwana | 16. Kerron van Vuuren |
| 13. Neil Maritz | 17. Barend Potgieter |
| 12. Marius Louw | 18. John Meyer |
| 11. Malcolm Cele | 19. Jean Droste |
| 10. Inny-Christian Radebe | 20. Jaywinn Juries |
| 9. Hanco Venter | 21. Duncan Campbell |
| 8. Ayron Schramm | 22. Alrin Eksteen |
| 7. Wian Vosloo | |
| 6. Khaya Majola | |
| 5. Hyron Andrews | |
| 4. David McDuling (Captain) | |
| 3. Gerhardus Engelbrecht | |
| 2. Stephan Coetzee | |
| 1. Juan Schoeman |
The post Aiming for the Treble appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
Make or Break:
The Cell C Sharks end off the pool stages of this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby tournament against the Sunwolves on Friday evening at Growthpoint KINGS PARK with the all-important task of securing a place in the play-offs.
With a two log point lead over the Bulls, victory against the Japanese will guarantee them wildcard entry into the knock-out round ahead of the Pretoria side who are traveling to Bloemfontein to take on the Cheetahs.
Director of Rugby Gary Gold has made a number of changes to his team with the possibility that Pat Lambie could play, having been pencilled in along with Curwin Bosch on the bench.
Jean-Luc du Preez took a knock on the weekend and was struggling with a bit of concussion and has been rested this week, with Tera Mtemba starting in his place.
“Hopefully Pat will be back sooner rather than later but you can’t mess around with concussion and we certainly won’t. But there are definite signs of improvement, said Gary Gold.
He advised that Willie le Roux wasn’t available this week, “but I am optimistic that he will be available next week.”
While Gold had pointed to looking at giving combinations the opportunity to gel ahead of the knock-outs, he admitted that there was a temptation to rest some of his players, particularly the Boks who had carried a heavy workload over June.
“We’ve given Beast a rest, he played every Test match, and we have every confidence in guys like Thomas du Toit and Dale Chadwick. It’s about getting the balance right: there’s not point in pushing a guy to the limit this week if he’s not going to be available next week. And in trying to get the balance right, the last two weeks’ selections have been difficult. You want to perform well but you don’t necessarily want to pick a new-look team where everyone feels like he has to start from scratch.”
It is also rather fitting that JP Pietersen, the Cell C Sharks most capped Super Rugby player and top try-scorer, has been chosen to lead the side in his final farewell home match over a career in Durban spanning more than 10 years. Growthpoint KINGS PARK is a place that has meant so much to him for over a decade
With this being the Sunwolves’ final match of their maiden year in Vodacom Super Rugby, despite there being nothing to play for, Gold is expecting the Japanese outfit to thrown everything into this match.
“They’re physical guys, upfront they’re pretty tough and they’ve never really given up in any game this year, so for them to finish on a high, there’s not question that they will give their all.
The Cell C Sharks
- Rhyno Smith
- Odwa Ndungane
- JP Pietersen (Captain)
- Andre Esterhuizen
- Lwazi Mvovo
- Garth April
- Stefan Ungerer
- Philip van der Walt
- Tera Mtembu
- Keegan Daniel (VC)
- Ruan Botha
- Etienne Oosthuizen
- Coenie Oosthuizen
- Chiliboy Ralepelle
- Thomas du Toit
Replacements
- Kyle Cooper
- Dale Chadwick
- Lourens Adriaanse
- Stephan Lewies
- Jean Deysel
- Michael Claassens
- Curwin Bosch/Pat Lambie
- Heimar Williams
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Relief, But One More Challenge:
Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold admitted after his team’s victory over the Cheetahs that it was a season-defining result, particularly as they have now virtually booked their place in the knock-outs.
They have one more hurdle this weekend when they host the Sunwolves at Growthpoint KINGS PARK on Friday evening, and four log points will guarantee them entry into the play-offs ahead of the chasing Bulls.
Assessing his team’s performance against the Cheetahs, he explained: “I was a bit disappointed in the performance, too many errors and discipline kept the Cheetahs in the game. And there were a couple of opportunities we could have finished better.
“But after the week we had last week when we were well and truly beaten, it was a test of character to come back and the Cheetahs are a fiery team, there’s some history there. I’m really happy for the guys. While it’s never an excuse, it has been quite disruptive with Patrick, Andre, Paul and Willie. But I’m happy for the guys like Garth and Rhyno who got their opportunities and were able to come out on the winning side.”
Gold suggested that “We couldn’t get our territory game going in the first half. The set-piece seemed to struggle, our scrums struggled a bit in the first half, our kicking game didn’t go well enough and we didn’t spend much time in their 22.
“They were always going to come here with fight in them, they’re a team that has a lot of character and we didn’t want to get into a game of touch rugby with them. And our discipline kept them in the game with us conceding a handful of penalties.
“But we knew what we needed to do after half time, we spoke about game management, better discipline and taking opportunities when they were there and when we got it right, we looked quite good.”
All games have turning points and for the Cell C Sharks, it was the immense character shown when the team’s scrum was down to seven men and they were defending thir tryline, one scrum after the next. There was the very real danger that the game may well have been lost at that critical time.
“At 7-3 down, had we gone to 14-3 down, that would have become a real dog fight for us,” Gold admitted.
“That was critically important for us, and it’s not the glamour part of the game. You’re down a man, your scrum is already under pressure and you have to really dig deep. And we defended nicely before building up to turn them over and getting the ball down-field.
“That would have been a very difficult period to come back from had we conceded a try.”
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Kyle Brown to captain Rugby Sevens at Olympic Games
