Preview: The Cell C Sharks vs Western Province – Featured Durban Blog

Derby matches between these two teams never fail to ignite the emotions – for players and fans alike – and Saturday’s Currie Cup clash with Western Province is likely to produce the fireworks we’ve all come to expect from the rivalry whenever these sides meet.

After losses to the Blue Bulls and Free State, Western Province broke their two match run of losses with a 36-6 defeat of Eastern Province last week and currently find themselves in sixth position on the log, with a game in hand but trailing the log leading Cell C Sharks by 12 log points.

For both sides, this match represents the opportunity to both push for a top four finish as well as proving their credentials.

The Cell C Sharks take an almost unchanged team into this match, and aside from the replacement of Lwazi Mvovo (to the Boks) with S’bura Sithole, Head Coach Robert du Preez has been able to enjoy continuity in team selection.

“It’s great to be able to do that,” he admits of the fact that the side chosen is almost identical to last week. “We need to have that continuity.”

And given that this match will be as tough, if not tougher than the Blue Bulls last week, it is a real plus to have the same group of players involved again.

“It was a solid performance against the Bulls, we had a lot to work on this week and I’ve said from the word go, we want to improve every week and I felt that was a good improvement. It was good for the guys’ confidence too.  We’ve had a good training week so we’d like to take that confidence into the Province game.”

As far as seeking regular and constant improvement, he identifies greater accuracy on attack as an area that they are focussing on.

“We still make a number of unforced errors, handling mistakes, but that’s to be expected because we want to play more with ball in hand. But we’re working hard on that, on our skill development during training and a big focus this weekend is on executing our opportunities when they represent themselves.

“We also want to focus on making each individual a better player, so the team can benefit.”

If the Blue Bulls match last weekend was a step-up from the previous three matches, then du Preez expects Saturday’s game to place ever greater demands on his players.

“Western Province is going to be very difficult, I think it’s going to be our greatest challenge,” he admits. “Since their first game [when they lost to the Blue Bulls], they’ve made a number of changes and they have players with X-factor who can change a game at any time, so we’ll be very wary of their attacking ability.”

The match kicks off at 5.10pm.