Currie Cup crunch time
SEMIFINAL: VISITORS KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED
Asecond successive Currie Cup final is tantalisingly close for the Sharks, but with a top-class Golden Lions side posing a significant hurdle to overcome in their semifinal in Durban today, there has been a healthy undercurrent of nerves to focus the minds at King’s Park this week.
The Lions have blown hot and cold in this year’s Currie Cup, as reflected in their third-place finish, but they come to the business end of the campaign with a quartet of players in their line-up who have a thorough understanding of what it takes to succeed at the highest level.
Former national captain Warren Whiteley, Elton Jantjies, the flyhalf who has steered them to three successive Super Rugby finals, new Springbok wing sensation Aphiwe Dyantyi and the experienced and very much inform midfielder Lionel Mapoe are all back in their team and pose a sizeable threat to the Sharks.
“The Lions are very dangerous, they’ve played in the most finals in the last few years so they know how to get there. Plus they’ve made a few changes that strengthen their side, so it’s going to be a massive semifinal and we know that we are not nearly in the final yet,” Sharks captain Louis Schreuder admitted.
“The boys will get nervous, some of them have not played in a game like this before, but there’s a fantastic spirit in the team, the preparation has been great and it’s been nice to see the guys have fun off the field as well. Of course there’s going to be pressure on them, and the team that handles that best and uses their opportunities – that’s very important – will win the game,” Sharks coach Robert du Preez said.
Whiteley’s return at No 8 will cause young talent Hacjivah Dayimani to play off the bench, but as valuable as the calm heads of the experienced players will be to start the game, just as crucial will be the explosiveness of the respective benches.
Dayimani will be the linkman with dangerous substitute backs Wandisile Simelane, Shaun Reynolds and Dillon Smit when the Lions typically raise the tempo in the final quarter, but the Sharks seem to have an edge on the bench, with Coenie Oosthuizen and Jean-Luc du Preez able to cause chaos in the forward exchanges, and the skills and pace of backs Aphelele Fassi, Leolin Zas and Cameron Wright to trouble the Lions’ defence.