Rainbow Cup SA gets under way this weekend with the Cell C Sharks heading south to Cape Town to take on the DHL Stormers on Saturday in the opening fixture of the double-round, four team tournament.
Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt has an almost complete squad to pick from and has chosen a strong side for this clash, including starting former Stormers and current Springbok captain Siya Kolisi.
Ox Nche, Fez Mbatha and Thomas du Toit offer formidable opposition to the highly rated Stormers front row with the pack looking forward to the challenge and enormous battle up front.
Setting standards and measuring yourself against the best is what rugby is all about and it doesn’t get much better than this. These two old rivals have a wonderful history, particularly in recent years and Saturday’s match should produce the kind of fireworks and edge-of-your-seat action we’ve come to expect when these two teams clash.
Lukhanyo Am leads the team which includes an exciting backline with Grant Williams partnering up with Curwin Bosch at halfback, Jeremy Ward and Am the centres and Yaw Penxe, Sbu Nkosi and Aphelele Fassi making up the back three.
There is a welcome return to the Cell C Sharks for prop Wiehahn Herbst, on loan to the Durban side, named on the bench. Herbst played much of his rugby in Durban before widening his horizons in Europe and then at the Lions. A powerful scrummager, he adds important depth in the front row.
Saturday’s match at Cape Town Stadium kicks off at 2pm.
Cell C Sharks
1. Ox Nche
2. Fez Mbatha
3. Thomas du Toit
4. Ruben van Heerden
5.Reniel Hugo
6. Siya Kolisi
7. Henco Venter
8. Sikhumbuzo Notshe
9. Grant Williams
10. Curwin Bosch
11. Yaw Penxe
12. Jeremy Ward
13. Lukhanyo Am (C)
14. Sbu Nkosi
15. Aphelele Fassi
Replacements
16. Kerron van Vuuren
17. Ntuthuko Mchunu
18. Wiehahn Herbst
19. JJ van der Mescht
20. Phepsi Buthelezi
21. Sanele Nohamba
22. Manie Libbok
23. Werner Kok
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The Cell C Sharks face the DHL Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday in the opening fixture of the Rainbow Cup SA, a competition which has unfortunately had a change of format to abide by the travel restrictions Covid-19 has placed on the teams traveling internationally.
The Cell C Sharks and Stormers have had an interesting, but equally disruptive recent history with games called off between the old foes. This weekend, the rivalry continues.
“From what we see, the Stormers will always be a quality side and I think they’re in a better space with the players they have and the people in place than they might have been previously,” explains Cell C Sharks prop Thomas du Toit.
“They’re a fantastic side with a good pack and a very good game plan, we’re expecting a proper challenge.”
During the Currie Cup competition, their Cape Town opponents played a predominantly set-piece focused game, but in the Preparation Series tended to throw the ball around. What does du Toit expect from them now?
“We’re kind of anticipating a bit of both really,” he admits.
“They will never shy away from the physical battle with mauls and scrums and the set-piece itself, we’re expecting that but we’re also prepared for it.
“But you can see they’re playing more [ball in hand] which is obviously something we’ve prepped for; we’re ready for both challenges.”
With a Rugby World Cup starting front row, the Stormers pose a formidable challenge up front with a handy pack behind them. Du Toit can’t wait.
“It’s such a nice challenge because that’s how you measure yourself against the best, that’s every rugby player’s motivation,” he explains.
“It’s not necessarily to prove yourself, but rather to measure yourself up against the best in in the world. I think that’s an awesome opportunity for us.”
With the competition scheduled to begin last week but then postponed until this weekend due to the overseas travel restrictions and the failure to find an alternative to the very strict Covid protocols, it could be seen either as disruption or assistance for the teams in preparation for the tournament.
“I think we all need to be rolling with the punches these days, but for us it wasn’t the biggest disruption, we took some time away and that was good for us. We’ve managed to get more training in, more detail, more time to polish, so it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”
Now that the competition will take the format of a double-round, home-and-away fixture list against the other three South African sides – the Stormers Bulls and Lions – the complexion of the tournament does change.
“Our mindset with the whole Covid pandemic has remained the same throughout,” he admits. “We’ve just been taking it week by week, not looking too far into the future, and just embracing new challenges each week which means we can steer away from thinking too far ahead.”
The post Action Time Again appeared first on The Sharks.
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Quick Durban KwaZulu-Natal Fact: Geography – The Kwazulu Natalprovince has three different geographic areas. The lowland region along the Indian Ocean coast is extremely narrow in the south, widening in the northern part of the province. The central region is the Natal Midlands and is an undulating hilly plateau rising towards the west. Two mountainous areas are contained in this area, the Drakensberg Mountains in the west and the Lebombo Mountains in the north. The Drakensberg is a solid wall of basalt, rising over 3000m skyward near the Lesotho border, whilst the Lebombo Mountains are ancient granite mountains, forming low parallel ranges running southward from Swaziland. The Tugela River flows west to east, across the center of the province and is the region’s largest river. The coastal regions typically have subtropical thickets and deeper ravines and steep slopes host some true Afromontane Forest. The midlands have moist grasslands and isolated pockets of Afromontane Forest. The north has a primarily moist savanna habitat, whilst the Drakensberg region hosts mostly alpine grassland. The former Eastern Cape enclave, of the town of Umzimkulu and its hinterland, have been incorporated into KwaZulu-Natal, following the 12th amendment of the Constitution of South Africa. The amendment also made other changes to the southern border of the province.
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