From friends to foes
Having shared the green and gold with a few Bulls players over the last month, Sharks prop Coenie Oosthuizen is back in black, and expecting a huge backlash this weekend, writes Darryn Pollock
THE Bulls are in town, and although they have had a poor season, the Boks’ impact man expects a classical South African derby to play out where the form book will be left at the Kings Park gates.
There is always a buzz of excitement whenever the Bulls are in town as there is a lot of history and rivalry between these two great South African sides.
Furthermore, the Bulls making their way to the coast this time have a host of star playersthat Coenie Oosthuizen witnessed first hand tear the French apart.
“South African derbies are always the hardest,” Oosthuizen grinned. “You know the players, they are good mates of yours, but they all want to have a go at you in these games, to try and hurt you, or get under your skin because they know you on a personal level.”
Oosthuizen rubbed shoulders with the likes of Jan Serfontein, Jesse Kriel, Rudy Paige, Lood de Jager and Lizo Gboko over the June break, and as such, he is well aware of the calibre of these players.
The Sharks man talks with reverence about the beleaguered Bulls, fully aware that they are not coming to Kings Park to be rolled over.
“It is hard to explain South African derbies,” Oosthuizen added. “It is always physical, with a big forward game, and it is the type of game you look forward to.
“The Bulls are coming here, with more oxygen for starters, and they will be up for it, this may well be one of our toughest games thus far, physicality wise.”
On a personal level, Oosthuizen admits that despite being an impact player, and picking up the odd 20 minutes against the French here and there, he still felt the brutality of Test match warfare.
However, he is coming off some good performances which add to his own confidence.
“Test rugby is a whole different ball game,” Oosthuizen said. “Even though I had 20 minute bursts, those are like 40 minutes in Super Rugby, but it was fun, off the bench, just the person that I am I like exploding on to the field. “This weekend won’t be anything less than my best against the Bulls. who are a hugely physical side. It is always nice playing good rugby, an attacking brand of rugby and being back with the Sharks, on our home ground. “We are very excited to play for our crowd. Every guy out here feels for each other and it makes your job so much easier with the key players and brotherhood we have in this team. Stepping back into it is simple.”
The Sharks will play the Bulls in their penultimate match, before a final clash against the Lions to round off the group stages.
All the while the hope is that they can push into seventh on the overall log which would see them probably facing the Lions again for a quarter-final clash in Johannesburg – rather than travelling to New Zealand, probably Christchurch.