Preview: Hollywoodbets Sharks vs Benetton:
The Hollywoodbets Sharks will be looking to close out their three-match overseas Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour on a strong note when they take on Benetton on Saturday afternoon.
For head coach John Plumtree, the focus this week is very much about producing not only an 80 minute performance, but 80 good minutes with long periods of sustained pressure and controlling the controllables.
“We didn’t come out of thew changeroom well to start the first half, our discipline let us down with a yellow card in each half which allowed them back in, but luckily we finished the game well off the back of their poor discipline, putting them under pressure and then being good enough to get over the line,” he explained of the areas of concern last week that they have worked on in preparation for this clash with the Italians.
He will look to avoid a repeat of that this week. Explaining further, he added, “When we were playing good rugby we looked pretty comfortable and for me, the better team. We’ve got to be better at the stuff we can control, that’s been our big focus this week.”
Benetton have had a tough start to their campaign, with one draw and two defeats, but Plumtree is well aware of the fact that it’s still early days in the competition.
“I’ve spoken to the team about the fact that they’re a pretty proud club, the best in Italy with the most internationals; I think they have their full contingent of international players back, with their foreigners as well.
“So they’re going to be a real tough prospect. We have to be at our very best. It’s going to be a massive physical challenge because we know they will come hard at us, so we have to play really well for the longer periods.
“We played some really good rugby against Connacht and some really good rugby against the Dragons, but we haven’t put it together for long enough periods. That’s our challenge this week.
“The field will be a bit sticky, there’s been a lot of rain, so it’s going to be difficult conditions for us to handle, even though the forecast is for fine weather. We’re expecting a pretty wet pitch.”
A one-point home loss at Hollywoodbets Kings Park last year may not be front of mind, although avoiding a loss this week is uppermost in the planning.
“The focus hasn’t been on history, but it has been around fixing the things that we can fix,” Plumtree pointed out.
“When we’re under a bit of pressure, we give away a penalty or yellow card and that just puts us under more pressure. We haven’t talked about back-to-back victories or anything like that, it’s more about fixing our game up.
“We’re finishing the tour, this is our third week away off the back of a trip to Loftus and a trip to Emirates Airline Park, so this team has been on the road for a long time.
“They’ve done really well, they’ve played six matches, won four, drawn one and I’m really proud of this group and what they’ve achieved in the last six weeks.
“But getting a win here would really finish off a great block of games that we always knew would be challenging. I’m proud of the way the group has gone about their business.”
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CONQUERORS OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP: THE SHARKS RISE:
After three rounds and a game in hand over all the non-South African teams in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, the Hollywoodbets Sharks have surged into the top eight, with one match remaining in their three-week European tour.
Reflecting on his team’s five-try-to-four, 33-30 bonus point victory over the Dragons, head coach John Plumtree expressed satisfaction with their resilience. Many teams might falter when the going gets tough, but this Sharks side has learned how to secure wins even when the chips are down.
A victory this Saturday against Benetton would have the Sharks boarding a plane back to Durban with smiles, marking our best opening to the tournament since our inclusion. In round five, we will host the defending champions, the Glasgow Warriors, at Hollywoodbets Kings Park for our first home game of the season.
Be sure to secure your tickets to witness this epic clash and see which team fields the fiercest warriors! We hope to see our Warrior Nation welcome home our champions in full force and enjoy our elevated match-day experience!
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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.
