Most of the Rugby World Cup winning Springboks were re-introduced to the Hollywoodbets Sharks side to play their part in the team’s 10 try rout of the visiting Dragons, but the job is not yet done as they will need to continue the intensity again this weekend against the Vodacom Bulls.
They returned from France with a real buzz, an emotion contagious in the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ camp and the result was demonstrative.
“You can’t get over that buzz, I know I’ll stay excited for the next four years, but yes, I’m still feeling pretty positive,” prop Ox Nche admits with a laugh.
Motivating themselves at franchise level after the World Cup might be considered difficult given the heights of emotion the players reached at international level, but as a professional, Nche admits it’s not difficult.
“For me it’s about the challenge. As a player, I just want to get better so I want to keep lifting standards and I can’t now do less than I did for the Springboks, so it’s all about setting those standards and keeping them high.”
The return of the Springboks saw the Hollywoodbets Sharks scoring 10 tries, but was it all due to the Bok players?
“I don’t think so,” he says. “If you look at the games, they’ve all been played the same way, it’s just the finishing touches where the team lacked a bit of detail. Everyone just gave a little bit more and we’ve been expecting the dam wall to break; it did this past weekend. Hopefully we can take that momentum through to the rest of the season.”
After the big win, the mood in the camp has lifted several notches which bodes well for what is to come.
“When we [the Springboks] got here, there was a sense of excitement, but after the win, the guys understand that what we are doing and how we are playing can win us games and we can make it happen. I’ve picked up that it’s a mindset thing, the sense of belief seems to be there now.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash against the Bulls, Nche admits that the match is all about maintaining the standards they set and accomplished this past weekend.
“This game is crucial because we can’t put in a good performance like we did against Dragons and think everything will just happen for us. We’ve got the momentum started, we need to keep it moving.
“The Bulls have been playing amazing rugby, they’re gelling and this is going to be a big task that really tests us. We know we have to be ready for everything they bring or we’ll come off second best.
“The front row battle is going to be very competitive, Wilco Louw has a good reputation, so we need to have plans to neutralise him and the rest of the front row. And not just their front row, the pack all work together and follow their plan well.
“Their pack has been putting teams away at set-piece time so it’s going to be a massive challenge. We have to be up for it.”
The post Keeping the Momentum appeared first on The Sharks Durban.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks go into round seven of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship full of confidence and morale following their 69-14 victory over the Dragons at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday
“We were more clinical in parts of our game and finished some of the opportunities we created and that provided scoreboard pressure. From that, we saw the confidence grow and it was good to see the boys enjoying their rugby out there,” head coach John Plumtree said after the game.
It’s been a tough campaign so far, with a couple of narrow losses that could so easily have gone the other way. This time around there was no doubt who deserved the win more.
The victory was outstanding and for that, the role of the returning Springboks cannot be understated.
Plumtree admitted that they expected that it would not be easy to come back from a high such as winning the Rugby World Cup and still perform as well as they did.
“They were all great, some hadn’t played for quite a while, so they were a bit rusty and a bit nervous, but the time they had out there will be good for the Bulls game.
“They were all great during the week as well, they provide that confidence to the rest of the group. Coming back into a new coaching set-up meant it was also a big week for them, hopefully they enjoyed it as well, it’s good to have them back.”
There’s been steady progress over the course of the tournament, but in this game, there was a huge leap forward.
“I think that’s down to five or six class players who came in,” the coach pointed out. “But you can’t underestimate how much the other players have improved as well.
“If you look at the two young locks, the loose forwards who were outstanding, everyone has been working really hard but we just haven’t had any reward for it.”
Plumtree admitted that scoring 10 tries in the game was particularly satisfying. There’s been no secret made of the team’s ambition to play exciting, running rugby and the result and the way they went about it certainly shows that they’re on the right track.
“I’m so happy for [Attack Coach] Dave Williams and the rest of the coaching team, they’ve worked really hard and for us to be able to score some of those tries against a pretty tough Welsh side with a good coaching unit, that was was pleasing.
“It was a case of wearing them down. We had a bit of luck just before half-time with that try that gave us good advantage going into the break, and then it was a case of us putting pressure on them in the second half.”
Although not a warning to other sides, the Hollywoodbets Sharks coach made a powerful statement about this team – after scoring 69 points in one game.
“We’re still not where we want to be, we’re not as clinical as we could be, especially in our own 22. So there’s still plenty to work on.”
The post Reflections on a Win appeared first on The Sharks Durban.
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