Sharks out to punish Rebels
We definitely won’t be complacent this time, insists coach Du Preez
LUCKILY, it would seem for the Sharks, the Rebels caused a bit of an upset last week in beating the Aussie conference toppers, the Brumbies.
Any complacency that may have been creeping into the Durban outfit’s changing-room ahead of the clash tonight at Kings Park (7.30pm) would have been quickly banished with that shock result.
The Sharks know what happened last time they underestimated a team – the Kings – coming close to what would have been a humiliating and unprecedented loss for a proud side.
The Rebels were lower down the log than the Kings before last week’s defeat, and with the home side coming off a bye, it would have been all too easy to come into this match with minds still on the beach and the bush.
However, coach Robbie du Preez, who does not strike one as a person who will be stung twice, made it clear that there will be no complacency this time around.
“Definitely not, the Rebels are defensively very good and with two big wings, they like to get the ball out wide. They’ve been a bit unlucky at times this season so we’re certainly not taking them lightly.
“Their win over the Brumbies showed that on the day, anything can happen. We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game.”
It will be an “A” game that many fans will hope to see littered with tries and bonus points, which have been few and far between thus far. The talk at the beginning of the season was to play with ball in hand and to score the tries, but there have been a few mitigating factors.
“I’ve said right from the start that we want to play ball in hand rugby, we want to score tries,” Du Preez explained.
“The bonus points and try scoring hasn’t really materialised, but it’s definitely top of mind. In saying that, a win is more important for me than scoring a bonus point,” Du Preez clarified. “But over the next five games, the third phases of our campaign, it’s going to be really important to build on the momentum that we’ve got and there are certain areas of our game that we need to focus on.”
What will be helping the Durbanites, at home, is that the humidity seems to have disappeared from the coastal city. Drier conditions, and a team that has thus far struggled in the competition – conceding 127 points in their first two games – should make things a little easier for the Sharks’ try scoring options.
The team also remains fairly consistent with only JeanLuc du Preez out of action – replaced by the trustworthy Philip van der Walt, and Ryno Smith in at fullback with Garth April, Clement Poitrenaud and Inny Radebe out , leaving Curwin Bosch at flyhalf.
It might seem like a dead rubber encounter but there will be a lot at stake when the Bulls lock horns against the Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld this afternoon, writes Vata Ngobeni.
The truth of the matter is that both sides are languishing almost at the basement of the African conference and are unlikely to challenge for a berth in the play-offs.
However, the show must go on and the Bulls will go into the clash hopeful that the turnaround in fortunes that they showed in their second win of the season against the Jaguares last week continues.
But the Bulls will still be haunted by their corresponding fixture against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein earlier in the season where their frailties were cruelly exposed.
The Bulls, though, have made some progress since then albeit it has only been a week but they are a much improved outfit in terms of how they have managed their start and in their execution.
Bulls coach Nollis Marais believes things have changed for his side and the fact that they are back at fortress Loftus will make a difference in their performance and their road to redemption will be taken one game at a time.
“I can say a lot of things at the moment and we only won one out of six games before last week. It is difficult to play away, especially if you play five games away at the beginning. We expected more from the side. Now only positive results can make the season look a bit better,” the coach insisted.
NOT pretty and nothing to boast about, but a win is a win.
The Lions, unbeaten at Ellis Park in nine Super Rugby games and nearly a year before kick-off, were made to fight until the very last second last night to make it 10 wins in a row as the Jaguares gave them an almighty fright.
But Ruan Ackermann scored a converted try with nine minutes to go to level the scores at 21-all after the Lions had been put on the back foot throughout a poor second half by the home team. Then Elton Jantjies slotted a penalty from the sidelines with two minutes to go to help Johan Ackermann’s men stay on the right course. The only side still to have beaten the Lions this season are the Jaguares, who got the better of them in Buenos Aires at the beginning of last month.
Ackermann’s men will now head to Australia with seven wins from eight games, but they will know they will have to lift their standard again after being put under enormous pressure by the men from Argentina last night, who really did not deserve to lose.
The visitors showed their intent from the start, and were rewarded for some excellent play, when centre Matias Orlando shocked the home crowd with a try after just four minutes.
The Lions, though, dusted off the cobwebs and were soon in control of the contest, thanks largely to the midfield pairing who scored tries before the clock had hit the 20-minute mark.
First Harold Vorster, like he’d done against the Stormers last weekend, ran an excellent line to score his second try in a week and then Lionel Mapoe showed great strength and stepping skills to burst past several Jaguares defenders to help his side to a 14-7 lead.
There was not much between the teams though; both struggled to hang onto the ball for long periods and ill-discipline let them down on a number of occasions.
It was a bit of a messy affair all-round, and not the kind of performance fans have come to expect of the Lions – especially at home.
The Jaguares, though, knowing they had gotten the better of the Lions in the last two meetings between the teams – albeit in Buenos Aires on both occasions and against weakened Lions teams – grew in confidence as the contest went on and when flank Rodrigo Baez scored his team’s second try soon after half-time to help level the scores, the visitors really got pumped up.
And it got a whole lot better for them from the restart when the Lions coughed up the ball and the Jaguares took it through several phases, before lock Guido Petti crashed over; the conversion by Nicolas Sanchez putting the visitors into a surprising 21-14 lead.
And if that wasn’t bad enough for a Lions team that hadn’t been troubled at home in nearly a year, they lost Vorster to the sin bin after he was pinged for slowing the ball down, but Sanchez missed the penalty that would have put his team in front.
A raft of changes were then made to the home team and with nine minutes to go the never-say-die Lions scored a third try, by Ackermann, after a quality attack from deep in their own half. Elton Jantjies’ conversion locked up the scores at 21-21.
Then it was Jantjies’ turn to step forward and slot the crucial late penalty with two minutes to go to seal the victory.
The Lions leave for their three-match tour of Australia tomorrow.
Lions – Tries: Vorster, Mapoe, Ackermann; Conversions: Jantjies (3); Penalty: Jantjies Jaguares – Tries: Orlando, Baez, Petti; Conversions: Sanchez (3)
The Kings fought back from a 17-point deficit to clinch a shock 26-24 Super Rugby win over the Waratahs in Sydney yesterday, reports ANA.
Tries from Justin Forwin, Masixole Banda, Michael Willemse and a penalty try plus two conversions from Lionel Cronjé earned the South African team only their third overseas Super Rugby victory.