Outside centre Am the latest import to shine for Sharks
THE Sharks have reaped a good harvest from the Eastern Cape during the professional rugby era, and one of the latest imports to show promise is 22-year-old outside centre Lukhanyo Am.
The King Williams Town product has shown that he is potentially on the path of Sharks-produced Springboks in Ryan Kankowski, Deon Kayser, Odwa Ndungane and Lwazi Mvovo.
There are plenty of others who have moved up the east coast from Port Elizabeth and East London to Durban, with another worthy of obvious mention in current Sharks fullback Curwin Bosch. Am has taken over from Paul Jordaan at outside centre in the Sharks’ Currie Cup team, and has shown enough enterprise this season to justify his selection (from the EP Kings) to the SA “A” team that in June lost twice to the touring England Saxons.
Am, who played 10 Super Rugby games for the Kings this year, came on as a replacement in the first SA “A” game against the Saxons, and then started the second.
His performances attracted the interest of the Sharks, and now he is a regular starter in the Currie Cup team and is hellbent on proving himself worthy of the No 13 jersey vacated by Jordaan, who left the Sharks earlier this year for a contract in France.
“I am a Border man born and bred, but the Sharks have given me a good opportunity to make it at a professional level, and I want to make that count,” Am said.
“It has been a good year for me and I want to make this run of games in the Sharks’ starting line-up count with a view to Super Rugby next year.”
On Saturday the Sharks host the winless Kings in a match that the home team has to win to stay in contention for a home Currie Cup semifinal, and while Am knows the Kings team inside out, he chooses to avoid an analysis of his former teammates. “I know a fair amount about them,” he smiles with obvious understatement.
“But if we are to advance to the semi-finals we need to be rather focusing on fixing our own game (after the consecutive defeats to Western Province and the Cheetahs).
Am said the home loss to the Cheetahs had been frustrating.
“We are fully aware that we cannot play the brand of rugby we have in mind if we do not get good ball.
“We are a young side and we have been reminded (by the Cheetahs) that we need to get the basics right if we are to play our attacking game.”