Sharks bracing themselves for front row battle
BY a strange quirk of fate, the Sharks and the Stormers have barely played each other since rugby restarted last year, which makes Saturday’s showdown at the Cape Town Stadium all the more appetising, reckons Sharks prop Thomas du Toit
The teams had Super Rugby Unlocked and Currie Cup competitions fixtures called off because of Covid-19 outbreaks in the Sharks camp, and then last week’s Rainbow Cup was called off because the competition required a revamp following the inability of the South African teams to gain visas to travel to the UK.
At least that game was in effect postponed to this week and not called off altogether, and Du Toit says his team is relishing an enormous battle, especially up front where the Sharks could find themselves facing the World Cup-winning front row of Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe
“Their whole pack has serious quality,” Du Toit said. “They’ve got some major players back from when we last played them (in the Currie Cup semi-final) and maybe they are in a better space than they were previously.
“We haven’t played them much in the past year but we know exactly what to expect up front,” he added.
Du Toit said that the calling off of last week’s match had been no disruption for players who have grown used to the rugby landscape forever changing.
“In these times everyone needs to be ready and rolling with the punches so it was not too much of a disruption,” he said.
“I think for some players it is a disappointment in that we want to challenge other opposition and test ourselves against overseas players, but there is such good competition around South Africa that we should still have great preparation for the series against the British and Irish Lions,” Du Toit said. ”It is not the end of the world. It is what it is and we are just rolling with the punches.”
The extra week of preparation has also allowed several Sharks players to get over injury niggles, and it certainly helps the Sharks’ cause to have first-choice loosehead prop Ox Nche now fit and available after an ankle problem.
“We went away for the Friday night and did some polishing up on a few things so it definitely wasn’t the worst thing to happen to us,” Du Toit said.
Du Toit said that the players had learned that nothing in the rugby calendar is cast in stone any more.
“The mindset has stayed the same as what it was towards the end of last season when there were so many changes. We are taking everything week-by-week, and every game as it comes. We are not looking too far into the future. In fact, we are steering away from thinking too far ahead.”