Off Lions’ attack

WITH the regular season now officially behind them, the Sharks can be happy with their efforts in securing a home semi-final against the Lions at 2:30pm on Saturday. They played a good brand of rugby that saw them score loads of tries, and pick up bonus points at every opportunity.

But, ahead of them is a game, potentially two, where scoring tons of tires does not matter, where points difference is irrelevant, and simply winning counts.

Knockout rugby is a totally different ball game as there is only one shot at it, but that does not necessarily mean that the Sharks are, or should, change their strategy.

Jeremy Ward, who has been a mainstay in the No 13 jumper for the Sharks this Currie Cup season, and part of the reason that the men from Durban have been able to rack up so many tries, admits that they won’t be going into their shells for this game.

“We won’t look to change our style of play,” Ward said.

“We’re an exciting team with some really good outside backs and we’ll look to get the ball to them so they can weave their magic. But if the points are on offer, we need to be willing to take them.

“The backline is playing with confidence, everyone is expressing himself, which is what you want as a backline. The guys are feeling confident and it’s all about being in a space where you’re willing to express yourself, trusting the players around you.”

What the Sharks will be doing, according to Ward, is putting a big focus on defence for a Lions team that even through the last few seasons of Super Rugby as well, have been devastating on attack.

“Defence is really important. Especially in games like these. The Lions have a few guys coming back as well which will give us a lot of different challenges from the previous time we played them.

“We’ve worked hard on our defence shape this week; it’s all about sticking to our systems and structure because if we can keep them out, hopefully we can put enough points on the board.”

The Lions will not only bring a big attacking threat to this semifinal clash, they could also bring a new edge with a few returning Springboks.

There is every reason to believe that the likes of Aphiwe Dyantyi, Malcolm Marx, Warren Whiteley and Elton Jantjies could be thrown into this clash to bolster the Lions.

“They bring a different challenge, you have to be on the lookout for them, but it would be foolish to say that we’re putting our energy and focus on those players.

“Our focus is on ourselves and our systems because we know that if we stick to what we’re good at, we will be able to pull off a result,” Ward explained. THE BLUE Bulls had nothing on Western Province in Pretoria last weekend. That’s for sure.

Province owned that 40-minute game. And the only thing that was more impressive than their six-match unbeaten run following their 34-7 Currie Cup triumph was how they went about racking up 30-plus points in those conditions.

While the fact that they managed to run in three tries and also get a penalty try while playing on a turf where grip gloves would have been handy is seriously impressive, it was their superbly stable and powerful scrummaging performance that would have burdened the Bulls with nightmares heading into the semi-final on Saturday.

For WP, it’s obviously one of the main things they’ll want to get right again, while the Bulls will have analysed and dissected every nook and cranny of the pack-down to prevent being shown up again.

Earlier this week, Bulls boss Pote Human made it clear that the same kind of results can be expected this weekend if they get assaulted by Wilco Louw & Co again. And that can’t really be argued. The Bulls will have to step up, and WP just have to make their scrum a sequel to Loftus Part 1 and they shouldn’t have any worries.

Then there was the Bulls’ ball retention, or lack thereof – another thing that will be crucial at Newlands given WP’s counter-attacking habits.

From the first-minute knockons to a few heavier mistakes, which WP of course pounced on, the Bulls didn’t do themselves any favours against the most dangerous counter-attacking outfit in the competition. They will have no excuses for not being able to protect the ball in the rematch (even though you can’t really mitigate those wet-ball offences, after all, Province played in the same stadium), while WP’s arsenal will be salivating at the chance to do what they feel they couldn’t really do in that weather last week – do more with the ball.

Earlier this week, WP flyhalf Damian Willemse said: “We did not have the opportunity on the weekend. But that stuff happens and Sergeal (Petersen) and SP (Marais) have been playing well and are exciting. Hopefully this weekend we get a few touches and we can spark our magic and our skills.”

WP defence coach Norman Laker also said that the fact that they’ve now stepped into finals rugby territory won’t discourage them from playing the game that’s taken them to the top of the standings and gifted them an insane points difference, compared to the other contenders.

So ja, that should say enough. Defence is going to be important. The Bulls will somehow have to box-in all that firepower and actually make use of their chances, while WP just need to do more of the same on defence to keep the Bulls’ try-tap sealed (and throwing in some of that collision-dominance will also help against a Bulls pack that should be a sturdier unit in the dry).

Those are some of the big things WP will want to continue and the Bulls will want to do differently on Saturday evening ... for 80 minutes.

WP have not lost to the Bulls at Newlands since 2009 – a semi the visitors won 21-9, before going on to win the competition. That was the last time the Bulls had the honour of sipping from the trophy.