Sharks’ Du Preez wary of a Brumbies backlash at home
SHARKS coach Robert du Preez agrees that Saturday’s Super Rugby encounter in Canberra between the Brumbies and the Sharks is going to be a “cracker” of note.
The Sharks are based in Coogee Beach in Sydney and will make the 30min flight to the capital city of Australia today, and they expect a fired-up Brumbies team to be lying in wait.
South African teams prefer to prepare for games against the Brumbies in Sydney, and then shoot into the quiet administrative city on the eve of the game.
The Brumbies will be playing their first home game of the tournament and the Sharks their first tour match, so the spirits will be high.
The Brumbies last week lost to the Rebels, the in-form Aussie team, and have also lost to the Reds, with their only victory coming in Tokyo against the Sunwolves.
Sharks coach Robert du Preez said that after watching the Brumbies’ defeats, he had told his team to expect a major backlash from the Brumbies in their first home game.
“We reviewed that match of theirs against the Rebels and we feel the Brumbies played a lot of attacking and were unlucky to not score more trie, so we must not read too much in to that loss,” Du preez said.
“This week the Brumbies are at home for the first time this season, and you can see they believe they are a good side, so they will be desperate to prove to their home fans that they are a team worth coming to watch this season.”
The Brumbies underwent a major change at coaching level at the end of last season when legendary Brumby Stephen Larkham retired and was replaced by Dan McKellar.
Du Preez said that he had noticed that the Brumbies were showing a greater intent to attack under their new coach.
“This is a really good Brumbies team that likes to attack and drive and play a lot of rugby, so it is going to be a big game between two teams that want to score tries,” Du Preez said.
“We have seen a lot of lineout driving from the Brumbies, and they are playing a lot more than they used to on attack,” the Sharks coach said. “They have shown a lot of lineout driving, they are not scared to drive out of their own territory. If you give them scraps they will pounce on them, so we have to be switched on, and we are going to have to be on top of the game and dominate the set pieces,” Du Preez said. “We need to bring big domination up front. That is where the game is going to be won and lost.”