Sharks want to roar
BEATING LIONS WILL GET DURBAN TEAM INTO PLAY-OFF CONTENTION Mtawarira hopes fans will ‘make some noise’.
The Kings Park crowd are well known for voting with their feet when the Sharks side is letting them down, so it was no surprise to hear stalwart prop Tendai Mtawarira stress the importance of getting them behind the team when they begin the process of trying to nail down a Super Rugby play-off place when they meet the Lions in Durban today.
The local derby against the two-time finalists is the toughest of their three remaining fixtures and the Sharks were full of war talk ahead of the game against a team they have not beaten in seven attempts since 2015.
“This is our first final of three we have to play and it’s at home, so it’s a familiar environment, which will help us mentally. It gives us no excuses because it’s all in our favour and we have to make sure we produce the goods. It’s always special to be back at home.
“We’re in front of our fans with a chance to get back into the competition and we want to make some noise and hope they do, too. Those of us who played for the Springboks have a lot of confidence coming back and we are better prepared to play the Lions this time,” Mtawarira said.
While the desperate Sharks are fighting just to get into the playoffs, the Lions also have plenty to play for as they look to secure the rights to home matches in the play-offs.
Sharks coach Robert du Preez said: “We have to stick to what we have to do, it’s all about us. This is the defining part of our season and we’ve got to win every game, but we’re not looking any further because that would be a really big win. It all comes down to this weekend.
“We’ve had a lack of consistency through the season – we’ve played some great rugby and we’ve played some mediocre rugby. But that is all in the past now. This is it, this is finals rugby and the Lions have always been one of our biggest enemies. So this is the big one.”