Blue Bulls coach will not be betting against Sharks

Blue Bulls head coach John Mitchell is under no illusion as to what his side will expect in Saturday’s Currie Cup semifinal against the Sharks‚ but knows the hosts will be under pressure to deliver.

The Sharks were the trendsetters for the better part of the season and in their 10-match unbeaten run that earned them a home play-off did the roundrobin double over the Bulls.

Over the years‚ the Currie Cup has thrown up some strange results, but it has been difficult for travelling teams to win play-off matches.

The Sharks were the last side to win a final away from home four years ago, in Cape Town, while Western Province are the only side who have won semifinals on the road in the past five years.

Mitchell said the Sharks were the favourites and could not be written off despite their unexpected 31-20 home loss to Western Province last week.

“The Sharks do have their own pressures because they set the standard in the competition and we spent much of the tournament chasing them‚” Mitchell said.

“They got there very early and they deserved to do so. We’re very intuitive in the way that we’re playing and to me that’s a good sign.

“The gain line is going to be important because that is a big strength of the Sharks. We’re going to have to be clean and strong defensively,” he said.

“If you’re a betting man, you wouldn’t put money on us.”

Assuming lock Aston Fortuin shrugs off his ankle sprain‚ Mitchell will have the luxury of fielding an unchanged side.

Fortuin has been bracketed with Jannes Kirsten and if he is declared fit, Fortuin will take his place in the starting 23.

Sharks coach Robert du Preez made three changes to the side that lost to Western Province‚ with Jean-luc du Preez‚ Louis Schreuder and Kobus van Wyk replacing Jacques Vermeulen‚ Michael Claassens and Odwa Ndungane, respectively.

Du Preez said they would have to raise their game after the disappointing showing against Province and he is wary of a free-scoring Bulls side.

“A lot has been said about the way they play and there’s been a lot of talk about their dangerous back three. We’re going to have to stop them, but we’ve done a lot of work in terms of how we want to do that‚” Du Preez said.

“We’re not going to go away from what’s worked for us and our game management is very important. We’ve also got our pack to give us the dominance.”