Sharks taking a cue from the Vikings ...
DURBAN: The Lions and the Sharks are approaching their Super Rugby quarter-final clash at Ellis Park today (3pm) from very different ends of the spectrum.
The Lions are expected to win, the Sharks to lose, but expectation is a funny thing and it can often wreak havoc on a side.
Because no one has given the Sharks a shot at toppling the Lions, a team that has only been bested by the Jaguares in Argentina much to the Lions own undoing this season, the Sharks’ motivation coming into this match has been akin to the Vikings.
“We will burn our boats,” Sharks wing Kobus van Wyk said in the week, alluding to the ancient Scandinavian seafarers’ practice of burning their boats when they arrived at a foreign land ahead of battle.
The idea is that there is no going back for the Sharks; it is all or nothing; and this is their final. They will either reach the shores of Ellis Park and conquer, or they will die by the sword in this competition.
“There is nothing to lose,” coach Robert du Preez said, somewhat surprisingly jovial at his team announcement.
“The pressure is on them. The whole of South Africa expects the Lions to win. So we have nothing to lose and that is our mindset.”
The mindset, then, is to give it their all – something they certainly did not do last week when the teams met in the final group stage game of the competition.
That game had very different outcomes for a Sharks win, and while no team wants to lose, the men from Durban won’t be hurting about the outcome it has led to.
But how can the Sharks beat the Lions if they have not managed to do so on two occasions already?
The only hint that Du Preez is giving away is territory. “In last week’s game we did not get the territory we wanted, and the last time we played up there, Curwin (Bosch) did really well for us and we are hoping for a repeat performance and that is why we have brought him in,” Du Preez explained, while also making clear why the rising star Bosch was back in the No 10 jersey as the only significant change for the Sharks.
The Lions, meanwhile, have been far more open with their plans and tactics. They plan to do nothing different. And why would they? It has worked twice before, so there is no point in fixing what isn’t broken.
“My players are like race horses,” a proud Johan Ackermann said in Joburg. “They’ve been groomed and drilled to play a certain way and it would be unfair on them if I asked them to change now. I want them to play with freedom, with intensity and accuracy, from the first minute.”
The Lions have even had the luxury of selecting an identical match-day 23 for this clash which will also go a long way in helping them maintain the high standard of free flowing attacking rugby.
The winner of this game will go on to play the Hurricanes, who are waiting to see if they will travel to Johannesburg after beating the Brumbies in Canberra, or if they will await the Sharks in Wellington.