No shark eat shark for Durban brothers

There are three brothers in the Sharks team that won the Currie Cup at Newlands on Saturday‚ but the theme of “brother for brother” rather than sibling rivalry drove the triumph.

The Sharks beat Western Province 17-12 at Newlands to capture their eighth Currie Cup title and the first in five years.

It was an upset considering they were beaten 50-28 at Newlands in pool play earlier in the campaign.

Coach Robert du Preez’s three sons flyhalf Rob‚ and twins in the back row‚ Dan and Jean-Luc all played significant roles in the win.

But it was the theme of brotherhood that underpinned the collective performance, according to Du Preez senior.

“I have to give credit to this group of players‚ and particularly [Currie Cup captain] Chiliboy [Ralepelle]‚ who played a magnificent leadership role throughout the whole season‚” Du Preez senior said.

“We have had a theme over the past couple of weeks called ‘brother for brother’. It’s all about playing for each other‚ and the whole squad has to be commended for that.

“Province are a great team and they played some fantastic rugby‚ so to come into their backyard and get the win is pleasing,” he said.

“Juan Schoeman [prop] actually came up with the brother for brother idea in a leadership meeting‚ and everyone bought into it. It was about the team coming first and the individual second,” Du Preez said.

“Again I must give credit to Chili. He played off the bench in the playoffs‚ but he has been just magnificent as a leader.”

Fellow Bok hooker Akker van der Merwe usurped Ralepelle hooker place this season‚ but he remained a committed performer throughout.

“The message and theme [were] quite simple: it’s about playing for one another‚” Ralepelle said. “We wanted to become tighter when it’s tougher‚ and that’s what we had to do in this game. When we didn’t have the ball‚ or were playing in our half‚ we stayed composed and kept our discipline.”