The Cell C Sharks host Zebre from Italy at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday looking to further entrench themselves in the top eight of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
With a string of good results in recent weeks, the Cell C Sharks do take confidence into this game, but execution is what it’s all about and no amount of positive sentiment can trump the performance.
Having taken a look at Zebre’s performance against the DHL Stormers last week head coach Sean Everitt warns that despite the result, they remain a dangerous proposition.
“The Stormers managed to put Zebre to bed in the first 30 minutes and that’s really important. They’re not as bad a side as the scoreline [55-7] suggests, a couple of weeks ago they ran Ospreys really close in losing narrowly.
“They’re an unpredictable and dangerous team and we need to be accurate in our execution. They have a good maul and have a two-sided attack, they attack from both sides of the ruck, so our defence and width on defence is going to have to be really good against them.
“They have a real good kicking game, they like to kick the ball long which could give us opportunities.”
In making changes for this week’s game, Everitt has handed Grant Williams the number nine jersey, explaining that, “This is a case of rotation, Grant hasn’t started in some time now, and I’d like to give both scrumhalves equal time. On top of that, he did really well coming off the bench last week and deserves a start.”
Centre Ben Tapuai also get s a start, with the coach pointing out that, “Ben is a skilful player as we kn ow. He does offer play-making ability and we just want to see how he goes in that channel now that Lukhanyo is in Japan.”
For a team with a number of Springboks in it up against a struggling Italian side that has yet to win a game in the competition, Everitt said that attention is more on what his side does than on the opposition.
“This game is all about the performance, although we’ve got the result and a full house of 15 points in the last three games, our performances weren’t where we wanted them to be.”
He added that being clinical is something they have also focused on and what they want to get right this week.
“Here in Durban we’re going to have to be accurate in how we manage the game and we need an improvement in the accuracy of our kicking which wasn’t there last week.
“We know that the individuals we have can do the job accurately, we just need to be better this week and better going forward.”
“The focus is on us, to try to rectify the performances so that we can remain in the top eight and be a threat in the quarter-finals.”
Saturday’s clash at Hollywoodbets Kings Park kicks off at 6.30pm.
The post Cell C Sharks vs Zebre Rugby appeared first on The Sharks.
The Vodacom Blue Bulls were made to fight hard in a wet weather Carling Currie Cup clash at Loftus Versveld before emerging 35-21 victors on Wednesday evening.
The rain played the role of the 31st man as it came down persistently to have a big influence in the run of play and for a long period it appeared that the Cell C Sharks would withstand everything thrown at them by a Bulls side reinforced with URC players, but the home side were able to finish off the game late in the second half.
The game started off on a wonderful note for the Cell C Sharks when the home side failed to take the kick-off cleanly and the visiting forwards hammered away in a series of pick and drives, showing patience and accuracy in retaining possession through numerous phases before centre Murray Koster was fed the ball and he went over for a try in the first minute.
The Bulls forwards weren’t having an easy time of it and battled under pressure in the first scrum and then conceded a penalty the second time round.
Just shy of the 10th minute, the Bulls launched an attack from deep in their half which paid dividends with the equalising try in the corner. The conversion was pinpoint and took the home side into a two point lead.
But the scrums continued to plague the men from Pretoria and the next set-piece earned another penalty which flyhalf Jordan Chait sent sailing through the uprights to take an 8-7 lead after a quarter of an hour’s play.
The Bulls retook the lead with a penalty try after the Cell C Sharks had lost Mpilo Gumede to a yellow card and then Hyron Andrews joined his eighthman on the side of the field as the Cell C Sharks were reduced to 13 men.
The Bulls failed to make their two man advantage count and could not add to their score, battling in the wet. When the Cell C Sharks were back to 14 men, a strong scrum and subsequent defensive penalty saw Chait cut the lead to just three points with 10 minutes of the half remaining.
Marnus Potgieter scored the second try that pushed the Cell C Sharks further ahead following another great scrum and subsequent penalty, before the outside centre showed speed and agility to dance his way over the tryline, Chait adding the extras for an 18-14 lead with the final five minutes of the half left to play.
Without their physical dominance, the Bulls weren’t handling the defensive side of the game very well against a Cell C Sharks side growing in confidence and they had to be content with going into the half-time break trailing by four points.
The Bulls struck first in the second half, five minutes in and a side-step in midfield catching the defence out and from there it was an easy run-in to the tryline. With the conversion, the hosts were back in the lead, 21-18 ahead.
Inny Radebe, having taken over the kicking duties, levelled matters with his first attempt when the Bulls were once again pinged for a defensive penalty, but numerous penalties conceded by the Cell C Sharks initially went unpunished as Steyn missed two attempts at posts, but a relentless forward effort finally earned the home team the reward they were looking for to gain a 28-21 lead with half an hour remaining.
Not content with the bonus point, the Bulls extended their lead beyond a seven-pointer with a fifth try off the back of a scrum in the Cell C Sharks 22 to take a 35-21 lead with only a handful of minutes remaining.
The post Gallant Effort appeared first on The Sharks.
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Quick Durban KwaZulu-Natal Fact: The KwaZulu-Natal Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council buildings, both national monuments, formed a colonial Parliament of two houses: a Council of 11 nominated members and an Assembly of 37 elected members. The Natal Parliament was disbanded in 1910 when the Union of South Africa was formed, and the Assembly became the meeting place of the Natal Provincial Council. The Council was disbanded in 1986.
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