Sharks focus on scrum power

Ken Borland

Although he has spent much of the last couple of years playing in the shadow of Beast Mtawarira, loosehead prop Juan Schoeman has been one of the Sharks’ better investments and he will have a key role to play in this weekend’s Super Rugby match against the Highlanders at Kings Park.

Given how the Highlanders struggled in the scrums against the Bulls last weekend and how much that Sharks’ set-piece has improved, the Durbanites have been working hard on trying to get what could be a vital advantage in the scrums on Saturday. And Schoeman, who moved from the Bulls to the Sharks in 2015 and could be making his fifth start this season, is up for the challenge.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be able to play behind Beast, who has a lot of experience and you can learn so much from him. Every opportunity I get, I just give my best and fortunately I’ve had a lot of opportunity this year. In the scrums we’ve been focusing on a weekly improvement and these days it’s all about eight forwards scrumming together.

“To harness every guy’s power is very important and technique as well, plus your attitude on the day is vital. We feel like we’re going forward and we want to pack down with the best. It’s been a very strange season in that one week a team will lose by far in the scrums but the next week they’ve fixed that. So we know the Highlanders will have worked hard on their scrum this week and it will be a much different picture,” Schoeman said.

“The Bulls had lots of possession, but the Highlanders still won, which shows it’s never over until the fat lady sings. The last 20 minutes are very important, especially the last few minutes. Their defence is very good so we have to make sure we spend time on the ball and we hang on to possession,” he added.