Lambie: Playing Aussie sides will be interesting

– Sharks captain Pat Lambie (right) says his team are looking forward to playing Australian instead of New Zealand teams in this year’s Super Rugby tournament.

The team arrived in Brisbane a few days ago and play the Reds this weekend at the Suncorp Stadium.

Lambie said they were conscious that not playing New Zealand teams this year could be to their advantage.

Lambie, who is back to full fitness after injury problems last year, said the competition structure was interesting. The Sharks had only played New Zealand sides last year and this season it would be only Australian sides.

“It will be interesting to see how this side of the draw works. We’re looking forward to playing the Ausssie sides after not meeting any of them last year,” he said.

“Some might say this is the easier draw, but Super Rugby is one of the toughest competitions in the world: this makes it extremely challenging. Add the travel to that and the fact that there aren’t any easy games anymore,” he said.

Lambie said discipline had been an important focus for the team.

“In the warm-up game against the Cheetahs, our discipline let us down. It’s a non-negotiable and neither the coaching staff nor the senior players are going to tolerate anyone not keeping their cool or showing ill-discipline.

“We expect a lot of needle which is what you get between South African, Australian and New Zealand sides.

“The Reds will be rearing to go. They’ve assembled a really good squad. Playing at home they will want to start well. We will have our work cut out for us but it’s important that we remain calm, play hard but fair, maintain our discipline and get the results,” he said.

An interesting inclusion in the side this year is French international Clement Poitrenaud.

“It’s been really good having Clement in the mix, he’s fitted in well and is very popular with the whole squad. He’s found the pre-season going tough, I think we all have, but he’s managed to get through it with flying colours,” Lambie said.

Coach Robert du Preez said: “We would like to win both games. We want to concentrate on our processes and if we get two wins out of the tour, that will be fantastic.” – AFP