Ken Borland

The Sharks are currently in fourth position on the Currie Cup log and notwithstanding the Free State/Western Province match being the showpiece clash of the weekend, when Griquas rock up at Kings Park on Saturday afternoon, the home side will be involved in just as much of a do-or-die clash as the two teams in Bloemfontein.

The Free State Cheetahs are the team in fifth, one point behind the Sharks, so obviously the KwaZulu-Natalians cannot afford to slip up against the bottom side on the log. Especially since they play Western Province at Newlands in the last round of fixtures. Western Province have their own pressures because they could finish anywhere from first to fifth, and out of the semi-finals, depending on their results in the next fortnight.

Just to add to the pressure on the Sharks’ they are currently dealing with a Covid outbreak and with some players coming back and others testing positive, coach Sean Everitt has been forced to change the majority of his team over the last few weeks. And it has shown in heavy defeats on the road to the Lions and the Cheetahs.

Everitt was doing his best to paint a positive picture on Thursday.

“This team has had a good week’s preparation, they are very tough on themselves and they have high standards, they know they have not delivered the standards of performance we expect over the last two weeks. But it’s easily identifiable what went wrong against the Cheetahs and we know Griquas are always a massive challenge as well.

“They always run teams close and I feel they were unfortunate not to beat the Lions and Western Province. We have no doubt what they will bring, they are desperate as well and obviously motivated to knock over one of the big four. So we are under no illusions, we know it is going to be a physical battle and a big duel at set-piece. But our team is determined to bounce back,” Everitt said on Thursday.

Desperation, motivation, physicality and set-piece prowess are also all the sort of properties the Pumas, those other ‘minnows’ of the Currie Cup, will bring to their match against the Lions on Saturday, especially since they are playing in Nelspruit.

While the Lions are rightfully wary of their neighbours, they are also targeting a bonus point win because that could make a massive difference in their hunt for a home semi-final. Ivan van Rooyen’s team are currently in third place, two points behind Western Province and six behind log-leaders the Bulls.

Momentum is with the Lions and they are also quite fortunate in terms of player availability, with in-form prop Sti Sithole probably their only first-choice player who is out injured at the moment.

It’s been a tough year for Western Province rugby and they have now come to the point of the season when they can either mount a strong challenge for the Currie Cup title or finish among the also-rans.

It is certainly squeaky-bum time and Saturday’s match against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein is probably the one that will determine whether they can remember the last 12 months with at least some fondness. Win with a bonus point and they go top of the log heading into the last round of fixtures; lose and they could find themselves struggling just to make the semi-finals.

Western Province coach John Dobson is not satisfied, however, just to be in contention; their extraordinary defeats to the Bulls and Lions on successive weekends and recent growth in the number of penalties his team is conceding are weighing on his mind.

“We’re in the curious position of finishing anywhere from first to fifth, which is great for the competition. We always knew one of the so-called bigger franchises would lose out on the semi-finals, but I’m not thrilled that it might still be us. Those 22-20 and 22-19 losses to the Bulls and Lions in successive weeks have been a real knock for us.

“We don’t want to have to win next week against the Sharks so this weekend against the Cheetahs is an opportunity for us to wrap up a semi-final place, then we can talk about where we want to be playing that semi-final. So Saturday in Bloem is not quite a quarterfinal but it is still a game of massive importance for us,” Dobson said on Wednesday.

Those selfsame Sharks, who just a couple of weeks ago were the pacesetters after their impressive win over the Bulls, are now the big city team most in danger of missing out on the semi-finals as they are currently in fourth place, just two points ahead of Free State.

They host Griquas in Durban on Saturday and while they would normally be expected to easily overcome the team from Kimberley, the Sharks are currently sitting with Covid problems and have suffered heavy defeats in their last two matches against the Lions and Cheetahs.

Assistant coach Brent Janse van Rensburg said he was not willing to use the health problems as an excuse.

“The Covid disruptions aren’t ideal, it affects your training programme in the week and then affects the availability of players. But it doesn’t help to make excuses, we don’t have an excuses mentality. We embrace the challenges as they come and how you apply your mind to those challenges will determine how you come out on the other end,” Janse van Rensburg said.

The Lions, third on the log, two points behind Western Province, travel to Nelspruit on Saturday to take on neighbours the Pumas. Their big Boxing Day clash with their other neighbours, the Bulls, was postponed, so they will be hoping to carry on the momentum that saw them beat Western Province, Free State and the Sharks on successive weekends.

The entire Bulls playing and management staff will be in Covid isolation until December 27, CEO Edgar Rathbone announced on Tuesday, but the awfulness of their situation is at least tempered by the opportunity to spend Christmas with their families.

The log-leaders’ vital Currie Cup match against the second-placed Lions has already been postponed to January 6 at Loftus Versfeld and the Bulls will end their round-robin campaign by travelling to Nelspruit just four days later to take on the Pumas.

“We have postponed the testing we were meant to have on Monday until Sunday, December 27, because it is still less than 10 days since the first positive tests and testing now would not give conclusive results, so we can get a more realistic picture next weekend. In the meantime the whole team is in quarantine at home, which makes it easier to control the infection.

“They will have no contact with other people outside of their families and we hope getting to spend Christmas with their families means they can come back recharged and refreshed. Obviously it is not ideal, but it has given the bodies some time to recover. If the players are clear on the 27^th, then we will start training on the 28^th and that gives us a week and a bit to prepare for the Lions game,” Rathbone said.

Rathbone refuted suggestions that the Bulls were being unfairly favoured in being allowed to postpone their match against the Lions, who have already had to share the points from two of their matches, and said in fact it meant they were risking their top position on the log because they have to play twice in five days. If the Bulls beat the Lions, then they can afford to play a second-string outfit against the Pumas and even if they lose they will still finish second on the log, the Sharks going top if they win their remaining three games.

“In terms of the tournament rules, the option has always been there to reschedule games and you need agreement between the two provinces, which we got last week already when we could see the Boxing Day match was at risk. Luckily our bye weeks are one week apart and the Pumas agreed to play us on the Sunday. But it means we have two games in a week, heading into the playoffs.

“The Lions will also play two games in a week before their bye, but for the integrity of the competition it is important this match is played. If the other matches could have been rescheduled then I’m sure they would have been. The log is important and we obviously want to finish on top, and it is a gamble that means we might have to prepare two squads that week. But the results will have to look after themselves,” Rathbone said.

Denied access to the front-foot ball they thrive on, the Sharks “were not able to fire a shot” in their 27-12 Currie Cup defeat to the Lions at Ellis Park at the weekend, coach Sean Everitt admitted after the game.

The Sharks’ points all came from the boot of flyhalf Curwin Bosch, with two of his four penalties coming from his own half, and the visitors were way behind the Lions in terms of possession and territory. With four of their first-choice tight five unavailable, their problems started in the scrums and the pressure just spread from there to the rest of their game.

“We can’t make excuses for that performance because we prepared well, but all the penalties against us – rightfully so – meant we weren’t able to fire a shot. The Lions put us under tremendous pressure for the full 80 minutes, but we have experienced individuals at Super Rugby level so it is no excuse. We had a penalty count of 14 against us and you’re not going to win many games with so many penalties against you.

“We are performance-driven and we are not happy with that performance because it was way below standard. The territory game is always important and it is affected by the number of penalties you concede. We had the Lions under pressure in their half, but then we would make a mistake, there would be a scrum and then we would concede a penalty which would release the pressure,” Everitt said.

The Sharks coach added that this chastening defeat was not due to a lack of effort nor was their game-plan at fault; under pressure, the Sharks simply failed to execute and made too many mistakes.

“You have to commend and congratulate the Lions for this pressure they put us under and they are probably the form team at the moment. It was not a lack of effort on our part, we just didn’t perform well and our kicking accuracy wasn’t good enough. We want to play according to the momentum and space and if we do have this momentum then we shouldn’t kick.

“I don’t think there were any kicks when we were on attack. But it’s not all doom and gloom, we were still in the game with 20 minutes to go. It’s hard to criticise the players for sticking to their structure, it has worked for us in the past when we came back from a nine-point deficit against the Bulls and 15 points against Griquas. If there were incorrect decisions made then we will rectify that,” Everitt said.