Rugby news from KwaZulu-Natal:
THE SHARKS MEDIA RELEASE: SIYA KOLISI MAKES A WELCOME RETURN HOME:
Durban, 9 September 2024: The Sharks are delighted to confirm that Siyamthanda Kolisi, the inspirational two-time winning Rugby World Cup Springbok captain will return home to join the Hollywoodbets Sharks upon completion of his current national duties.
After spending a season abroad with Racing 92, Siya makes a welcome return home to his beloved South Africa.
Commenting on his return, The Sharks Director of Rugby Neil Powell said: “Siya is an influential player, whose leadership and passion is known and celebrated across the globe. We are glad that he has chosen to return to Durban and don the black and white jersey once again. The positive influence he has on young players and the high standards that he sets for himself and those around him, is beneficial to any team he is part of. Off the field, the immense contribution that he makes can never be underestimated.”
Devin Heffer, Brand and Communications Manager at Hollywoodbets, who are The Sharks title sponsor commented: “We are thrilled to welcome our two-time World Cup-winning captain back to the Hollywoodbets Sharks! Building on our recent triumph in the EPCR Challenge Cup, John Plumtree’s coaching team is maximizing the winning culture within the squad. The addition of Siya to our line-up is incredibly exciting, and we are confident that our fans are eager to see him back in action at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.”
Kolisi thanked The Sharks and Racing 92 for making this move possible.
“My family and I have enjoyed a wonderful year abroad that has given us cherished memories. We have missed South Africa though and it is time to come home. I would like to thank Racing 92 for accommodating my request to return home and for the exciting opportunity they gave me to play abroad. It is a great club steeped in tradition with an impressive group of players, who I can now call brothers for life.
“I am excited to be returning to Durban to re-join the Hollywoodbets Sharks. My family and I love Durban and its people, and I cannot wait to run out onto the park at Hollywoodbets Kings Park during the 2024/2025 rugby season.
Powell concluded by stating: “Siya is a much-loved sports personality who has the respect and love of all South Africans, and I am sure that everyone will join us in welcoming our national hero back home.”
ENDS.
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Match report- Sharks Too Good:
The Hollywoodbets Sharks came out on top in their Carling Currie Cup clash with the Vodacom Bulls, closing out the pool stages before next week’s semi-finals with a hard-earned 24-18 victory at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Sunday.
Wet weather conditions didn’t help matters, with the Bulls making almost twice as many handling errors as the home team which stymied many of the promising attacks they put together. Ultimately rugby is about game management and it was the Hollywoodbets Sharks who must take the plaudits for the way they constructed the victory.
The game took a full quarter of an hour before the teams broke the deadlock, the Bulls using an attacking lineout in the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ 22 to maul the ball up and over the tryline for the opening score to take a 5-nil lead.
The visitors had to settle for a penalty after hammering away at the line following a well-executed 50-22, but being thwarted on defence and feeling the pressure, but they had an 8-nil lead by the 23rd minute, having dominated possession up to that point.
But a strong period of sustained attack from the home team went somewhere towards levelling the possession and territory stats and following a number of penalties and a warning, the Bulls’ indiscipline cost them a yellow card for repeated infringements in their 22 and Dylan Richardson smashed his way over, too much speed and strength for the defence and was over for his team’s opening try.
In the build-up, the Bulls were also found guilty of a head clash in the tackle, deemed dangerous and another man was sent to the bin. Siya Masuku added the extras and there was just one point separating the two teams with less than 10 minutes of the half remaining.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks went into the lead for the first time, early in the second half capitalising off some mishandling leading to a scrum which resulted in a penalty off a mammoth effort from the home team forwards at the set-piece, with Masuku adding the three.
With the Bulls restored back to the full complement of 15 players, a strong break led to a penalty that they slotted to restore their lead five minutes into the half.
But another 45m penalty from Masuku saw the Hollywoodbets Sharks retake the lead, 13-11 just shy of the 50 minute mark after the Bulls were penalised for some pushing and shoving unnecessarily.
The see-saw nature of the scoring continued when the Bulls went over for their second try, a strong scrum and then a kick over the top to chase for the successful touchdown, with the conversion taking them 18-13 ahead.
The next 10 minutes proved too stop-start for either team to mount a serious launch on the opposition, the conditions hampering progress with ball-handling made tough and both sides opting to keep the ball in the air to force the errors.
With just over 10 minutes of the game remaining, Masuku continued with his 100% success rate kicking for posts as he cut the lead to two points with a penalty for playing the ball illegally.
Then all action broke out as an educated kick downfield was chased, the Bulls panicked under pressure and were forced to dot down, having taken the ball over the tryline. From the ensuing scrum, the Bulls were pulverised, penalty advantage was give but not required as the retreating Bulls’ defence could not contain Jordan Hendrikse who powered his way over to score in the corner to take a 21-18 lead into the remaining five minutes.
The Bulls conceded a last gasp penalty which was slotted by Masuku to close out a tough but satisfying victory.
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Preview- Hollywoodbets Sharks XV vs. Vodacom Bulls:
Sunday’s final round of this year’s Carling Currie Cup promises all-out action and drama when the Hollywoodbets Sharks host the Vodacom Blue Bulls at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
Head coach John Plumtree discussed in the lead up to the game the balancing act that has been necessitated by three competitions all being planned or played at the same time.
“We’re in quite a unique situation, certainly very new to me in that we’re using the Currie Cup as preseason games for the URC, but we’re also finishing off a competition, so there has been a bit of juggling around numbers because JP Pietersen has taken about five or six players to the Under 21 competition.
“You can see in the team selection the URC players were available and we want to finish the Currie Cup strong, but we are also mindful of the fact that a lot of players haven’t had any rugby for a long time.
“It’s quite nice to have this week’s game where the result doesn’t matter too much – we obviously want to win our home games – but we’re already in a semi-final next week.”
The Currie Cup has also provided the Hollywoodbets Sharks with an opportunity of integrating the new signings into the squad before the URC.
“They’ve had a conditioning period with us for three or four weeks and now get the opportunity to play in a competitive game that has some pressure attached to it.
“The new guys have done really well, I’m very happy with them, they’ve added a lot to the environment. They bring good skill sets, experience and knowledge.
“We’ve definitely gained some good guys around providing more depth in the pack where we were a bit thin.”
The positive about the absence of many players during much of the Currie Cup is that they’ve had a chance for their bodies to rest up after a gruelling and demanding (and successful EPCR Challenge Cup campaign).
“There’s been enough chat about the need for a global calendar for all of our players and not seeing some of these guys for a while is a good thing. It’s an opportunity for them to do some conditioning, have a holiday and get some rest and then fire back into a big season.”
Shifting focus to the game this weekend, Plumtree admitted that he is looking forward to some good things coming out of the team’s performance.
“There are things we see as important that we improve from last year, we learned a lot last year and I’m hoping that the learnings that we’ve put into our preseason, around rugby strategy and what we feel we need to work on get the results we need.
“That’s been a big focus and hopefully we’ll see some of that under pressure against the Bulls.”
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