Of all the South African teams the Cell C Sharks go into this third round of the pool phase of the Heineken Champions Cup in the most comfortable position, but there is a reason why there might be slightly more pressure on them to produce against Bordeaux Begles.
The Sharks have won both their games in the competition, which means they will have qualified for the round of 16 if they repeat their win they scored over the French team in Bordeaux at HollywoodBets Kings Park on Saturday evening. That with an away game against Harlequins at The Stoop in London still to come in the pool phase.
Even if they lost on Saturday they would still have a fairly good chance of advancing, so it is not the result alone that is serving as a motivating factor for Siya Kolisi’s team. Rather, as experienced Springbok prop and sometimes Sharks captain Thomas du Toit explains, it is because most of the team that will play against Bordeaux was rested for last week’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship trip to Galway to play Connacht.
The Champions Cup teams will only be announced on Friday afternoon as per competition protocol, but it is anticipated that there could be as many as 14 changes, or even a wholesale change to the team. While the side that went to Galway had a Currie Cup look to it, and was coached by Currie Cup coach Joey Mongalo, the big guns stayed behind with Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell to prepare for the two Champions Cup fixtures.
“The pressure is always on, the aim is to produce in every game and to win every game if possible, but there is definitely now a certain expectation after we were given a week off,” agreed Du Toit.
“There would be no reason for rewarding someone by resting them if when you do get to play you don’t play well. So there is expectation for us to produce a big performance on Saturday against Bordeaux and we realise that.”
Although the South African teams will all travel for play-off games in the Champions Cup, as the entire knock-out phase is scheduled for Europe regardless of where the local teams finish, the Sharks are also out to get the best seeding they can, as it may dictate the strength of the opposition they get to play against.
“Winning this week is vital for our space in the competition. If we get points this week and next week then we will be sitting pretty in the competition,” said the Springbok prop.
Du Toit believes it was crucial to his team’s chances of winning the next few games that they got spared the debilitating aspects of the tortuous travel to Galway via Doha, while at the same time rewarding the other players who’d been working hard but not playing much.
“I can’t speak on behalf of the coaches, but it appears there is a rotational system in place. It was a case of giving guys who have been training really well a chance to play and show what they can do in the big league, and it was also perfect to give some guys rest. We know it is very hard to play a game on the road and then come back and play a massive game.”
Although it is unlikely the French teams will be travelling the same route to the opposite hemisphere via Qatar that the South African sides do, Du Toit says his team’s experience of the travel challenge has motivated them to try and use it to their advantage this week.
“The travel challenge is real and it is a factor. We know they (Bordeaux) won’t travel the day before they play, but it will still be a challenge for them. It is vital for us to use the conditions (the heat and humidity of Durban is very different to the cold currently being experienced in France). We’ve been training in it for a couple of weeks so we are used to it.
“We realised today that the guys who have changed from the northern climate (in Galway) back to the heat of Durban over the last few days have been really struggling in training,” added Du Toit.
The Sharks should be confident after beating Bordeux on their home ground, where they are known to be particularly hard to beat. For Du Toit, it isn’t hard to pinpoint what the Sharks need to do - they need to replicate what they did the last time the full strength team played together, which was the thumping win over the Vodacom Bulls on New Year’s Eve.
“We always try for an 80 minute performance and I thought we got close to that against the Bulls, where we started well and ended well.”
While it does appear that the Sharks are putting most of their eggs into the Heineken Cup basket currently, Du Toit begged to differ.
“There is a big emphasis on the Heineken Cup but in the same breath we have been mentioning that we are under pressure in the URC, particularly with the resting period for the Boks coming up. There isn’t an emphasis on either one, we are focused on both competitions.”