Cell C Sharks coach Sean Everitt has been forced by injuries to field a team that is short of full strength for Saturday’s Rainbow Cup SA decider against the Vodacom Bulls but he remains confident his team can exploit the glimmer of hope they offered themselves last week.
When the Sharks saw the Bulls come back to beat the DHL Stormers with a last-gasp try in last Friday night’s game at Loftus, you might have assumed it would be a hammer blow to the Durbanites.
After all, with a vastly inferior points differential in comparison to the Pretoria team, they were already up against it in the chase for top spot, and the bonus point the Bulls grabbed with their fourth try lengthened the odds against the Sharks getting onto a flight to Italy to contest the 19 June final against Benetton.
But going into their match against the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg a day later with an under-strength team and achieving their objective of clinching a full house of log points by scoring four tries, not only kept the door to the final ajar for the Sharks, it also underlined their character and determination.
And in winning as they did, they proved they could overcome seemingly tough hurdles, which this week’s at Jonsson King’s Park undeniably is.
“We are confident we can do what we need to do. We took a very changed team up to Ellis Park for our game last week, and we had to do the same in that game as we need to do against the Bulls - we needed to win with a bonus point,” said Everitt after naming his team for Saturday’s match on Thursday.
“That was a big challenge for us and we achieved our objective so that has given us confidence. This week we will take a similar approach to what we took at Ellis Park. We have to stick to processes. We also know that in this game we can’t let the Bulls get a bonus point either so we will have to stick to a plan and build ourselves into the game, create scoreboard pressure and play in the right areas of the field.
“It isn’t going to help us if we play reckless rugby in our own half. We know the Bulls are a very good defensive team and they will punish us if we do that. The guys are eager to make the final. They were denied by just a couple of points in the Currie Cup final last year and are eager to get their hands on some silverware. We have an opportunity to do that and also to fly to Italy on Monday night to play the best team in the European section of the Rainbow Cup.
“It is hard to measure motivation but I would say, judging from what I have seen in training this week, the guys are as motivated as they have ever been,” added the Sharks coach.
SHARKS BENCH TO BE FINALISED ON FRIDAY
Everitt knows though that his men will have to be on point with their discipline, something they weren’t in the two games that preceded last week’s win in Johannesburg, if they are to stand any chance against the Bulls.
With the Bulls such a formidable mauling team, he knows that giving Morne Steyn a chance to move the Sharks into their own 22 would be fatal.
“We beat them in a Currie Cup league game here last season and in that game, we started well and kept up the momentum for 80 minutes. We will be looking to replicate that. We played for just 50 minutes in our most recent game against them at Loftus and it cost us. They are very good in the last 20 minutes, as they showed last week against the Stormers and the week before that against us.
“Given where the Bulls strengths are, we’ve talked a lot about discipline. We gave away five scrum penalties and four maul penalties in our last game against the Bulls. We know they have a good maul so we know we can’t be undisciplined as if they get a chance to get into the right areas they are going to punish us. We are going to have to be disciplined to be competitive.”
Everitt said he would finalise his bench after Friday afternoon’s captain’s session at King’s Park.
We need to assess the injuries we have picked up in the last 10 days,” he said. “A couple of guys have niggles and we are trying to push them through. Nthuthuko Mchunu has a niggle and Wiehahn Herbst and Marius Louw both have ankle niggles, as does Manie Libbok. Makazole Mapimpi has stiffened up a bit but should be okay.”