Gold won’t take Bulls clash easily
SHARKS director of rugby Gary Gold did not want to say it but they have a golden opportunity to widen the points gap on the Bulls in the South African group tomorrow.
With the Sharks hosting the Southern Kings at King’s Park, they have the easiest of the South African Super Rugby engagements this weekend.
The Sharks are two points ahead of the Bulls, who have a game in hand. Gold’s charges also have the benefit of putting the Bulls under pressure by collecting five points and leaving Nollis Marais’s team to sweat against the Stormers.
The Kings happen to be the only team who have gifted the Sharks a three-try bonus point. Despite their incremental improvement, they do not look like a team that can withstand the Sharks onslaught for 80 minutes.
“From what we’ve endured in New Zealand with the results and the travel schedule, I’ll put a lot more emphasis into a good performance rather than worrying about what happens on the log. The Stormers are facing the Bulls and there are so many permutations at play and I really don’t care about what happens at Loftus Versfeld. What’s going to be is going to be,” said Gold.
“We want to make sure that our performance gets better and I’m very wary of looking at where a team comes from and where they are on the log. The beauty of rugby lies in the fact that any team can beat any team at any time. It’s critical that we show the Kings the respect they deserve. We’re done making excuses now and we need to back up the improvement we’ve made with a strong performance.” Gold has made seven changes to the side that narrowly came through the Buenos Aires crucible. Despite the different make- up of the team, they still look too strong for the Kings. Dale Chadwick, Mahlatse “Chiliboy” Ralepelle and Lourens Adriaanse form a new front row in place of Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira, Franco Marais and Coenie Oosthuizen. It will be Ralepelle’s first start in a Sharks jersey while Mtawarira and Marais have been shunted out of the match-day 23 for rotation reasons.
Stephan Lewies and Etienne Oosthuizen resume their budding second row partnership with Lubabalo “Giant” Mtyanda on the bench.
Jean-Luc du Preez starts in place of the injured Jean Deysel while Michael Claassens has shaken off a groin niggle to start ahead of Stefan Ungerer. Lwazi Mvovo rotates with Odwa Ndungane on the wing.
Du Preez missed last week’s match with injury and had his right leg iced up after yesterday’s training session. Gold said the tearaway looseforward twin was good to go while he also had some kind words about Jacques Potgieter’s abrupt exit and move to the Bulls.
“Those situations are what they are and it was sad that Pottie was injured and it was something that was frustrating not only for him, but for us too. We loved having him here and he was a great individual. It’s unfortunate that circumstances didn’t work out and from our view, there’s no animosity,” said Gold.