Sharks show Currie Cup mettle
WHILE the Sharks may have played out a historic moment for Durban, and the team, by playing their first game at the ‘stadium across the road’, Moses Mabhida, on Friday against Bordeaux, they also polished their preparations.
The 19-17 win over Bordeaux Begles was intended to tick a lot of boxes, outside of the rugby field, but for coach Robert du Preez and his preparations for the Currie Cup, it was a well calculated exercise.
The Currie Cup kicked off this weekend with the rest of the teams playing the first round, and the Sharks having an opening round bye. In such a short tournament, the bye is much more of a hinderance at this stage for the Sharks, but they clearly weren’t sitting with their feet up.
Bordeaux provided a good, and slightly different, test for the Sharks, with their more attritional style of play, especially in wet weather. But the home side got a chance to give everyone who needed it a good hit out.
It was a Sharks side that was pretty much full strength, with Curwin Bosch the biggest absentee, but he was omitted because of a slight injury niggle. The rest of the team boasts a lot of Super Rugby experience, and there are also some exciting new names to keep an eye one.
Aphelele Fassi, the former Dale College student, was exquisite in a game not suited for individual wing brilliance, and yet, that is exactly what the Sharks man did with his individual effort for a try off an errant kick from Bordeaux.
Jeremy Ward also showed some good touches, and a great spot tackle for another Sharks try, to remind the rugby world what he is all about after missing out through injury and then struggling to unseat any of the other Sharks centres for Super Rugby.
The Sharks have a lot of pressure on their shoulders going into this Currie Cup campaign. They were by far the most consistent team last year, winning 10 games in a row only to fall flat in the final at home against Western Province.
The only way for the Sharks to improve from last year is to now lift the trophy, and everyone knows that - the coach, the players, even the fans. It will be a hard slog if the Sharks are not the Currie Cup champions at the end of this campaign.
It is not only for the glory of the Currie Cup, it is also a logical step that the Durban outfit need to make in preparation for next year’s Super Rugby season. Expectation is heavy in that competition too, and going into 2019 with a trophy in the cabinet will surely help the side take things to the next level.