Sharks vs Bulls: It’s a mental game
It is all in the mind for the Sharks this week as they seek to back up their memorable win over the Stormers, with a win against the Bulls at Loftus.
|||Durban - It is all in the mind for the Sharks this week as they seek to back up their memorable win over the Stormers in Cape Town last week with a victory against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.
That is the view of coach Gary Gold. The Sharks will go into the match having had just one full-on training session, a rigorous work-out on Tuesday, but Gold says the planning for this short week was done a long time ago and it is now up to the players to have the mental toughness to avoid cruise mode and be combat-ready for the inevitable bulls onslaught in Pretoria.
“The guys are sore after the Stormers game and we have had to ease off but then we always knew this week would be in the head and about physical recovery from Newlands,” Gold said. “We have a have a massive mental hurdle to overcome in having to front up two weeks in a row in huge local derbies, both away from home.”
It might also explain why Gold has opted for a degree of rotation this week, although the core of the side remains the same. Gold is not a believer in change for the sake of change.
One of the Sharks’ best players this year, Jean-Luc du Preez, is injured (a foot problem that will be okay for next week’s home match against the Crusaders), and that gives an opportunity for the ever-industrious former Cheetahs flank Philip van der Walt to shine.
Interestingly, it also means a place is opened up on the bench for Keegan Daniel, the former Sharks captain who left Durban round about the time that Jake White arrived, and is now back from the Japanese wilderness to revive his career in South Africa.
Apart from the Du Preez twins and Marcell Coetzee, the loose trio that has been starting, and now Van der Walt, the Sharks can at some stage call on Jean Deysel (recently recovered from injury), Renaldo Bothma (also on the comeback trail), Francois Kleinhans (recovering from a bicep injury), and former Currie Cup captain Tera Mtembu, who sadly suffered another knee injury in his comeback match for a Sharks XV against Griquas last week.
In straight rotation, Gold is giving vastly experienced scrumhalf Michael Claassens an opportunity (for Cobus Reinach); Lwazi Mvovo is in for Odwa Ndungane on the wing, and there are two changes in the front row - Lourens Adriaanse rotates with Coenie Oosthuizen at tighthead and Kyle Cooper is at hooker for Franco Marais.
“The issue with rotation is about stopping the rot early before the guys actually get tired,” said Gold, who added that he could have kept going with the same line-up that beat the Stormers, apart from injured Du Preez. “Soon other guys will be rotated. It is about continually keeping the squad fresh and making sure the load never becomes too much for key players later in the campaign.”
Gold pointed out that a good chunk of his starting line-up will be involved in international matches in June, the Super Rugby “rest” period. The Springboks play Ireland in a three-Test series, the SA A team will host England’s Saxons in two matches and the SA Under-20 team could well select a few players.
“Also, it is important to point that every one of the new guys starting this week has been playing off the bench and been on the field at the finish of our three games, so there is, in fact, no disruption.”
Starting XV
Willie le Roux, JP Pietersen, Paul Jordaan, Andre Esterhuizen, Lwazi Mvovo, Joe Pietersen, Michael Claassens, Daniel du Preez, Philip van der Walt, Marcell Coetzee, Stephan Lewies, Etienne Oosthuizen, Lourens Adriaanse, Kyle Cooper, Tendai Mtawarira (capt); Replacements: Franco Marais, Juan Schoeman, Coenie Oosthuizen, Hyron Andrews, Keegan Daniel, Cobus Reinach, Garth April, Odwa Ndungane
The Mercury