The DHL Stormers are undeniably the form team at the moment while the Hollywoodbets Sharks have been struggling but the hosts will be taking nothing for granted in Saturday’s coastal Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby in Cape Town.
While the Sharks have won just twice in nine games this season, with two Challenge Cup games added in with the seven URC matches the Durbanites have played, Stormers defence coach Norman Laker reasons there is too much talent in the visiting team for them not to click at some point. And when they do click, says Laker, then the team in opposition is going to have a mountain to climb.
“I know we struggled on our URC tour, and the Sharks had the same as us,” said Laker in looking ahead to the 30 December clash at the DHL Stadium.
“The Sharks maybe haven’t found their best form yet, but they have seven guys with a World Cup winning medal, and they can beat any team in the competition on their day. We haven’t discussed them being underdogs or anything like that, to us the Sharks are a quality outfit and we will have to play well to beat them. If the penny drops on the day they can beat any other team and once they find their feet they will be very tough to beat and we are planning for the game accordingly.
“You cannot take anything for granted in this competition. Just because your position on the log doesn’t look that healthy doesn’t mean you can’t beat any other team in the competition on your day,” he added.
SHARKS SHOWED THEIR POTENTIAL AGAINST CONNACHT
It was interesting to hear Laker say that he had been working particularly hard on analysing the Sharks’ first home game after they returned from tour against Connacht, because even though the Durbanites ended up losing that was the game that came closest to showing us the promise in new Sharks coach John Plumtree’s game-plan.
“I have spent some time working on the Sharks’ Connacht game so I agree with those who say that was a game where the Sharks showed a lot of potential. They were very good on attack in that game (but just couldn’t finish off). Apart from Plumtree taking over, Dave Williams is back as their defence coach, and we can see it starting to come through.
“After that Connacht game the Sharks went to altitude to play the Bulls and they started off well in that game but then made two or three mistakes that saw the Bulls score 21 points quickly and they were out of the game after that. For a team coming together under a new coach it is never easy going to Loftus. Apart from anything else, there’s the altitude.
“But on the day the passes can stick, the counter-attack with Aphelele Fassi could suddenly start working, and if they click as a group it could turn around their whole season. Hopefully that won’t happen on Saturday.”
VISITORS SHOULD BE FRESHENED UP BY REST
The Sharks come to Cape Town having had a two week rest while the Stormers have played two tough and physical almost test match type games against La Rochelle (in the Champions Cup) and the Vodacom Bulls (in the URC). That suggests one team should be well rested while the other is arguably close to the physical condition the Springboks must have been in when they were nearly caught out by England at the semifinal stage of the Rugby World Cup.
However, Laker is not sure it’s as simple as saying that the Sharks have an advantage because they’ve had a rest whereas the Stormers have been taken to the wire in three successive weekends if you factor in the opening Champions Cup game against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.
“From my experience it can work both ways so it is not easy to say who will be advantaged, the team that has rested or the one that has stayed sharp by playing big games,” said the Stormers head coach.
“We have had the experience in the past where we’ve had players out or we’ve come off a bye and some of the players haven’t been quite sharp enough. It can work both ways.”
The Stormers do have the depth to mix up their selections a bit if they need to in the interests of having a fresh component to Saturday’s game and it was interesting to note that the man who was sitting next to Laker at an online press conference on Wednesday was veteran hooker Scarra Ntubeni. The Springbok capped player was there because he will be earning his landmark 100th cap on Saturday, which means at least one change from last week’s game against the Bulls as Ntubeni wasn’t involved then and last played in the opening Champions Cup game against Leicester Tigers.
The Stormers team for the Sharks game will be announced on Friday.