Werner Kok won many trophies when he was a global star playing for the Blitzboks, including being named as the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2015, plus a Currie Cup with Western Province in 2017, but there is one more bit of silverware he is eager to get his hands on.
Kok is a highly popular member of the Hollywoodbets Sharks squad that has managed to turn its season around over the past two months and after scoring a hat-trick of tries last weekend in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship win over Scarlets in Llanelli, he will take confidence and good form with him into Saturday’s EPCR Challenge Cup semifinal against Clermont-Auvergne.
It’s an important game for the Sharks, as a victory will propel them into the final on 24 May, and thus become the first South African side to play in the decider of a European competition. Defeat will leave the Sharks where they have been most of the season - with the reality that this was another year of failure, with qualification for the Investec Champions Cup being beyond them due to their low 13th current ranking on the URC log.
For Kok though it is of particular significance, as his time playing for the Durban franchise is coming to an end. He was named as Ulster’s first signing for next season some months ago, and this will be his last tilt at silverware for the franchise he got one over when he was part of the winning WP team in the 2017 domestic final in Durban.
TOUGH SEASON FOR SHARKS
It’s been a tough season for the Sharks, and they have won a lot less than they’ve lost in the URC, but their unexpected defeat to the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein remains their only blemish in the Challenge Cup, which is the secondary competition to the Champions Cup, featuring teams that don’t make it into the elite competition.
They would have targeted winning the Challenge Cup when they failed to make the cut for the Champions Cup last year, for it is a winnable competition for them given the names on their team sheet. However, until recently the names and the results didn’t tally.
Since the URC win over Ulster though there has been a turnaround, with five wins in six starts across both competitions, and even the solitary loss against Glasgow Warriors away was a game where they emerged with some credit as they fought well against a good team with a second string combination.
One factor is obviously that the period spanning from late March to now has coincided with the Sharks finally having all their top Springboks available, but Kok, who was educated in Nelspruit and is 31 years old, believes there is more to it than that.
CULTURE CHANGE
“It was a few mindset changes in the camp that turned it around and we also had a culture change,” said Kok.
“Most people wouldn’t have seen it because it happened inside the camp, but there was quite a bit of change. Everyone is aligned towards one goal and that makes a massive difference.”
While he won’t be part of it as he will be playing in Ireland, Kok believes there are good times ahead for the Sharks.
“You can see things are falling in line at the moment. The Sharks are on the way to a proper place,” he said.
Lifting the Challenge Cup will be a good stepping stone to those better times Kok speaks of, not least because it will get the Sharks back into the Champions Cup, which is where they need to be given their star quality on paper as well as the greater quality of opposition that will come to Durban if they make the step up.
However first the Sharks have to deal with Clermont, who thumped Ulster 53-14 in their Challenge Cup quarterfinal. One thing in the Sharks’ favour this time though is that they will be playing away from the Clermont home ground of Stade de Michelin, where they can be formidable, but at The Stoop. It is a neutral venue, but officially the designated home ground for the Sharks for this fixture, and Sharks skipper Lukhanyo Am is hoping it will feel like a home from home on Saturday.
“The London weather has been really good to us this week, we’ve really enjoyed it,” said Am. “We hope this weekend a lot of people will come out and support the Sharks, making the Stoop our home away from home. Hopefully there will be a lot of numbers.”