Van Straaten hopes Sharks get a lifeline as Springboks return

RUGBY has never been one for sissies, nor those who like to take it easy, and as the Sharks gear up to take on the Lions in an all-important clash in their Super Rugby campaign a week after a gruelling Test series, 11 of the Sharks players have at least been afforded two days off.

The Sharks’ Springboks will have had yesterday and today off, but assistant coach Braam van Straaten is not worried.

It is one of those double-edged swords really, as there will be some adjusting to be made, but with the Sharks having such a large group picking up national honours, they will also be riding high from what they accomplished.

For the first time in a long time there is optimism and enjoyment surrounding the green and gold jersey, and the Sharks players were integral to a 2-1 series win over England. The management will be hopeful a few days rest, and the confident energy they have accumulated over the last month, will be able to carry them through the encounter.

Furthermore, as has been a long time coming in local rugby, there is a push for similarities between the national and provincial teams, and Van Straaten sees it this time around.

“There is quite a few similarities in our play and the Springbok play,” he added. “We are direct, but the systems are not exactly the same. Jacques Nienaber has been here to put some things in place they wanted at the Boks, so there is that overlap. There is some real good synergy, and I think the boys who have not played for some time, they will be nice and fresh and raring to go.”

The management team would have had to be working quite hard to try make sure not only are their Boks in the right space, but the rest of their squad too. Some players would have got some well-deserved time off, while others even managed to squeeze in a competitive game.

“The key for the guys who did not go away was to give them a break and to get them fresh,” Van Straaten said. “So the last two weeks has been really good, and some of them had a run in the Challenge Cup, and those who played were the outstanding ones on the pitch. Getting that bit of game time before we go against the Lions was also really good.”

There will have to be a big mental switch for the Sharks players returning from a break, or Bok action, because all the pressure of Super Rugby would have abated. However, the log has not changed, and the Sharks are holding on to knock-out rugby by a thread. A loss to the Lions, and that thread could well snap.