Preview: The Cell C Sharks vs Jaguares – Featured Durban Blog

The Cell C Sharks take on the Jaguares in their return leg Vodacom Super Rugby match in Buenos Aires this weekend, with Director of Rugby Gary Gold having made a number of changes to the team that defeated the Hurricanes last week.

The five changes made this week are by no means punishment of any sort – after all, defeating the Hurricanes in such emphatic form last week was a display of outstanding, committed rugby – but more so to the opportunity for rotation.

“It’s such a fine line, you have to be very sensitive about wanting to invoke rotation but not make wholesale changes,” Gary Gold explains. “You don’t want to jolt the flow of the team, but you also want to be sensitive about the amount of minutes some of the guys are playing. Science tells us that at some stage we need to step in or injury steps in.”

The first leg match, played at Growthpoint KINGS PARK in early March, saw the Cell C Sharks emerge narrow 19-15 victors, and there won’t be any underestimating the team that could have reversed that result two months ago.

The team is now safely in Argentina doing their final preparations for Saturday night’s game, and not only will they take great heart from their physical effort, but enjoy a mental boost for the achievement from their efforts.

“Every win and every good performance gives you confidence. We placed pressure on ourselves in terms of rectifying errors and to string some good phases together and score some good tries definitely gave us confidence.

“It’s been building slowly, I don’t think this past weekend was a once-off, it’s been coming. I was very happy to see us finish off a couple of opportunities after we were critical of ourselves for not always doing that previously.”

And while they are in a good mental space, Gold warns that a minor lapse could be catastrophic should the team rest too much on their laurels, especially against a team brimming with Test hardened players.

“The guys are in good spirits, but in saying that, we’re playing a good Jaguares team who put 70 points over the Kings, so we’re going to have to bring our A game, most definitely.

“There’s no reason to believe that the Argentinians are going to be any less physical or intense as what we have faced in the last five weeks. They have 10 or 12 internationals at their disposal. It’s important that we go into this game with the same mindset that we had against the five Kiwi teams. We have an unbelievably tough task ahead of us.”

Veteran wing Odwa Ndungane, named to start after Lwazi Mvovo was rested according to Springbok requirements, shares his coach’s opinion that they are not going to have it easy.

“This weekend is going to be tough, they’re a good side and they’ll be fresh after coming off a bye; it’s a massive challenge,” he explains.

Despite the fact that the Cell C Sharks spent three weeks in New Zealand, returned home for a week and are now on the other side of the world – in South America – Ndungane admits that ever since he’s played for this team, they’ve always embraced the travel part of the season.

“We don’t let travel become an excuse because all teams have to travel anyway. The trick is to prepare as well as possible and make sure you put in a big performance on the weekend.”

He concludes, saying he feels that his team are on an upward trajectory.  “The signs are positive and we remain focussed and committed to the challenges that lie ahead.”