There’s no backing down at King’s Park

Both the Sharks and the Blue Bulls are trying to play the sort of ambitious, ball-in-hand rugby that is susceptible to mistakes, but both teams say they will not back down when they meet in a crunch Currie Cup clash at King’s Park in Durban today.

The Sharks have made less errors in winning all three of their games thus far with bonus points, but they have also played only the supposed lesser opposition in the Pumas, Griquas and Boland Cavaliers.

The Bulls were brilliant in downing Western Province, were outplayed by the Free State Cheetahs and struggled to defeat the EP Kings, so coach Nollis Marais is concerned about how they will cope under pressure.

“It will be very important to get a good start because the Sharks are playing with confidence. We were far ahead early on against Western Province, but in the last two games we had to fight. We must make sure we get out of our areas and then play. We were under pressure because we are not accurate enough,” Marais said.

For the Sharks, the passes have been sticking much better and there is the added positive that their defence has also been shipshape.

“We want to play more rugby, be more ball-in-hand, but that’s led to quite a few errors, which we need to improve on, we need to cut down on the mistakes. But we will stick to the way we want to play,” Sharks coach Robert du Preez (left) said.