The last time veteran Springbok prop Trevor Nyakane went to Loftus, he scored what was effectively the match-clinching try that beat the Vodacom Bulls to put his Hollywoodbets Sharks team into the Carling Currie Cup final.
The match was drawn 40-40, with Nyakane’s try coming towards the end of extra time, but the score earned the Sharks an advance to the decider on the basis that they had scored more tries than the Bulls in what became a 100-minute game.
Nyakane was playing with a youthful Sharks team as most of the other Boks were away on Castle Lager Rugby Championship duty, so he knows what he is talking about when he lauds the young players for the energy they bring to the group.
It’s an energy that will be required on Saturday, as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby is an important one for the Sharks in the sense that a win will cement their position in the top four on the log, but it is understood they will be heading to Pretoria with an understrength team.
They will name their team later on Thursday but their coach John Plumtree returned from New Zealand only a few days ago and it is understood that he has given all or most of his top Boks the month of February off as per the national resting protocols.
'IT’S THE NATURE OF THE GAME'
It makes sense as the Bulls game is the only fixture the Sharks have this month and any ground lost now can be made up by a fresh and fit team with most of the stars back during the remaining months of the season. Even if the Sharks stars weren’t resting, there are several players who wouldn’t be able to make an appearance anyway because of the injuries that have plagued the Sharks since December.
“It’s the nature of the game, you are not going to have everyone in the squad available every week,” said Nyakane when looking ahead at the challenge his team faces on Saturday.
“You have to learn to adapt around that. The pressure is always there even when the Springboks aren’t there. It’s about working hard and producing what the coaches expect of us. The boys who have come in are stepping up, and they’re showing they’re hungry to make their mark. The energy that they bring in is really infectious, particularly for the older guys.”
The Sharks have been there before and while the Bulls team they face this week is their full URC side and not the watered-down Currie Cup version of the Pretoria franchise, they won’t be going to Loftus expecting to be beaten and should be channeling the experience of last September when they got through that epic domestic semifinal.
THIS ONE IS PERSONAL FOR TREVOR
Aside from the fact that a win would cement their top-four spot on the log and put them within range of the third-placed Bulls, professional sports people are always highly competitive, and for those who have been part of Rassie Erasmus’ Bok squad, which Nyakane, who turns 36 in May, has been for a long time now, that is particularly so.
Not only is Nyakane driven by his experience of past success, but he’s also a former Bulls player. He made 82 appearances for the Bulls in international competition and another 10 for the Blue Bulls domestically between 2014 and 2022, which was when he left to take up a contract in France.
That means this game will be more personal for him, the personal aspect is true of every South African derby. While last week’s sold-out north/south clash between the Bulls and Stormers was played out to huge hype, Nyakane says the other derbies are played with a similar attitude. And he knows that from his experience of being based in Pretoria, there will be a big effort from the Bulls.
“I know their moves and they know things about me,” he said. “I know what is coming. It’s not going to be easy because they are really good. It is personal for me, but I think for the Bulls it is just as personal playing against the Sharks as it is playing against the Stormers and Lions. SA derbies are always personal.”
Playing against players that you know so well after playing with them also provides extra drive, and there are a few of his old teammates left in the Pretoria unit even though he only had a small taste of the Jake White era as coach before moving to France.
“The guys who are playing at the Bulls are guys I played with during my time there. We trained against each other for years, we know each other well,” said he 68 test Bok front row forward.
“They’re a very strong outfit when it comes to scrummaging and forward play. You can see that by their results and how they have been performing over the past few weeks.”
MASSIVE CHALLENGE IN THE SCRUMS
No one will argue against what he says about the Bulls scrum. Any team that can dominate the Stormers' scrum unit like it was in the first half of last week’s derby has to be spectacularly formidable, and the current Bulls scrum is. Nyakane is unlikely to have fellow Boks like Ox Nche and Bongi Mbnambi playing alongside him this week, so it is going to be a tall order for him to have an influence on the game.
But the Sharks showed bravery in their Durban win and also in the Loftus Currie Cup semifinal before that, and prevailed. Nyakane, after what he went through the last time he was there, also knows how to do the business at Loftus, and his know-how blended with the energy the young players will bring to the effort may just give them a chance. They will need it big time.