Ken Borland

Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold has largely kept faith with the same team that lost to the Lions last weekend for Saturday’s vital SuperRugby clash with the Bulls at Kings Park, calling them a special group of players.

Although the Sharks desperately need a change in fortunes to resuscitate their season, the only changes Gold has made are the returns of Springbok veterans Jannie du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira to the front row.

“It’s nice to be able to strengthen our front row because it will be a very tough game up front, but I’m really happy with this team and I’m massively optimistic that if we replicate the effort of last week and rectify a couple of system errors, then we can get the result because this is a special group of players and they are hurting as much as we are,” Gold said after announcing his team in Durban on Thursday.

Gold acknowledged that the defence, which has enjoyed a strong heritage in recent Sharks teams, has been woefully lacking this season.

“We should be proud of our defence, but I’m not happy with it at all, it’s not nearly been good enough and it didn’t improve at all against the Lions. There were system errors, which was very disappointing, and, as the coaching staff, we all take responsibility for that.

“We neglected spending time on that out in the middle, the players didn’t do it over and over again enough, because they were a great defensive unit last year. I guess we have to be like the golfer who hits thousands of seven-irons in practice even though that’s his strength. But I have a lot of faith in this special group of players and I believe we can fix it,” Gold said.

Team: Odwa Ndungane, S’bura Sithole, Waylon Murray, Andre Esterhuizen, Lwazi Mvovo, Fred Zeilinga, Cobus Reinach, Renaldo Bothma, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Marco Wentzel, Mouritz Botha, Jannie du Plessis, Franco Marais, Tendai Mtawarira. Bench – Monde Hadebe, Thomas du Toit, Lourens Adriaanse, Lubabalo Mtyanda, Etienne Oosthuizen, Conrad Hoffmann, Lionel Cronje, SP Marais.

Coach Frans Ludeke faces a tricky selection this week as several star players are waiting in the aisles as the Vodacom Bulls look to back up their impressive win over the Reds with a crucial triumph over the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.

Springboks Adriaan Strauss, Jan Serfontein, Handre Pollard and Akona Ndungane are all available for selection again, while flank Lappies Labuschagne, one of the Bulls’ best players in the opening weeks of the competition, has recovered from a shoulder injury that saw him miss the last three matches.

Hooker Strauss and flyhalf Pollard should certainly start against the Sharks, but the fine form of Burger Odendaal at inside centre means Ludeke should perhaps consider playing Serfontein in the number 13 jersey he wears for the Springboks.

Labuschagne will probably return off the bench, with the highly-talented Arno Botha match-fit and ready to continue in the number seven jersey.

With the back three of Jesse Kriel, Francois Hougaard and Bjorn Basson performing so well in recent weeks, Ndungane is unlikely to break into the starting XV after recovering from a broken hand. He will even struggle to get on to the bench because Jurgen Visser pretty much provides specialist fullback cover for Kriel, unless Ludeke creates a space by leaving out Piet van Zyl and uses Hougaard as the reserve scrumhalf.

The Sharks are currently in a hole but the possible return of Jannie du Plessis, Beast Mtawarira and Co could continue the revival in spirit that was seen against the Lions at Ellis Park at the weekend, but in terms of confidence, the Bulls are probably going to Durban at the best time.

Ludeke’s men are leading the chase for the South African SuperRugby Conference title and victory over the Sharks could eliminate the KwaZulu-Natalians from contention, with the Bulls at least six points ahead with a game in hand.

The following weekend the Bulls travel to Cape Town to take on the Stormers followed by a crunch local derby against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld and then their overseas tour. So the next three weeks are absolutely vital for the three-time champions as they look to gather as many points as possible.

Sharks coach Gary Gold said he hoped his team’s courageous effort against the Lions in Johannesburg at the weekend would give them some respite from their critics.

Although the Sharks went down 23-21 to the Lions to suffer their fifth defeat in nine matches, they pushed the in-form home side all the way and, had flyhalf Fred Zeilinga succeeded with an angled, long-range penalty after the hooter, they would have claimed a morale-boosting victory.

“Even our biggest critics want to know that there is some fight in this team and, after the week we’ve had, the guys really put their hands up, stuck in it for the full duration and were in a position to win it at the end. They showed huge character to keep out wave after wave of attack on our own line and it showed that we’re not just going to roll over and think our season is over,” Gold said.

On top of all the disruptions in the last week, the Sharks then had to contend with the late withdrawal of eighthman Ryan Kankowski with a knee injury and yet another yellow card, centre Andre Esterhuizen being sent to the sin bin for a late tackle, which Gold felt was a contentious call.

“The yellow card was unbelievably frustrating and the wrong call. Every decision should be taken on its own merits and I’m still wondering if the tackle was even late, so it definitely shouldn’t have been a yellow card. The sanction for a late tackle is a penalty and there was no malice involved, it wasn’t around the neck or anything,” Gold fumed.

The key period of the game was the 10 minutes either side of half-time when the Lions scored three times to turn a 14-6 deficit into a 25-14 lead, and Gold was at a loss to explain how it happened.

“We’ll have to have a look at that, we let it slip a bit there. We took a knock in confidence with that try just before halftime, but we had a constructive chat in the break, the talk was all positive and intelligent,” Gold said.

“But look at where we are in the competition, we’re just over halfway and we’re just four points behind the conference leaders, and I’m excited that this bunch of players can still get things right. The South African pool is very tight and just four points separates the top four teams.”

With several second-string choices playing their guts out against the Lions, it will be interesting to see who Gold recalls from the contingent of Springbok players that were left out, because this weekend’s game is against the conference-leading Bulls in Durban.

A back-of-the-hand slower ball and a stronger mentality are a couple of the upgrades fast bowler Junior Dala has added to his game as he looks to become a regular member of the Titans team in all three formats in the coming season.

Having spent the 2015 winter at the national academy, Dala showed those improvements in limited-overs cricket last season, especially in the Momentum One-Day Cup, where he played in all 10 matches and ended as the tournament’s third-highest wicket-taker with 16, while conceding barely more than a run-a-ball.

He was also a stalwart of the Titans team that won the RamSlam T20 Challenge, taking eight wickets at an average of 25.12 and conceding less than eight runs an over.

But he only played in four of the Sunfoil Series matches, taking just five wickets at an average of 57, so that is clearly where he wants to improve greatly.

“I had a lot more belief in myself and I learnt valuable lessons with the academy when we toured Sri Lanka and I did reasonably well against Test players. I had early success in the One-Day Cup, I was the leading wicket-taker at the halfway mark, and in the T20 I just went with that flow. I worked on extra skills and I learnt a lot as well from the Proteas bowlers in our squad.

“I felt I was playing for my place the season before that, but last season changed my whole outlook. Sometimes I have to taper down, it’s not just about outright pace, it depends on what’s required for the situation, like the back-of-the-hand slower ball for instance. I’ve grown mentally, I use my head more and I have extra confidence and belief,” Dala said.

“But I haven’t played enough of the long format, the more I play, the better I’ll be. I maybe let myself down a bit in the four-dayers last season, so it’s definitely a major goal to put that right. I’m working hard so hopefully I will play in all three formats next season, I just need to do what I need to do.”

Ironically, the most impressive performance of last season came in a long format game as he destroyed the England second innings with five for 34 in 12 overs for the SA Invitation XI in Potchefstroom, earning the respect of Jimmy Anderson, the leader of the touring attack.

“Taking five against England on a flat Potch pitch made me believe that I can compete at that level, I just need to be more consistent. I got Alex Hales a couple of times and Alastair Cook showed such super skills, but I thought I handled myself well and showed that I can do it. James Anderson came and congratulated me and told me I had big things ahead of me.

“But I never went to a big school and the first time I was ever coached was when I played for Gauteng. So I’m a work in progress and I’m still trying to figure out my action, there are still basics to get right and I need to understand it more,” the unorthodox 26-year-old said.

But the opinions of the great Anderson and coaches Shukri Conrad, the head of the academy, and Rob Walter of the Titans are surely right on the money when it comes to Dala.