Newlands has been kind to the Sharks on their last 2 visits … 0
Newlands has been kind to the Sharks the last two times they have played there, including a 12-9 win in the Currie Cup final on October 27, 2018, and coach Sean Everitt says his team is quite comfortable travelling to Cape Town for their semi-final against Western Province on Saturday.
The Sharks have won their last two matches at Newlands, also beating them 12-9 in SuperRugby in 2019, and they have been triumphant in three of their last five outings at The Grand Old Lady of South African rugby. Those wins have all been narrow, however, all by less than six points, while their two defeats were heavy – by 11 and 22 points in 2018.
“We’re very happy to go to Cape Town, it’s a lot easier than going to the Highveld, especially playing in the afternoon at this time of year. It’s been really hot here in Durban, so we’re looking forward to better conditions and we do play well in those sort of conditions. The travel there certainly won’t deter us much.
“We did speak about the emotion involved from Western Province’s side that it might be their last game there. There’s a lot of tradition surrounding that stadium, including for the Sharks and we would really like to be the last team to win at Newlands. But we’re up against a desperate, emotional team with a good set-piece so it should make for a good game,” Everitt said this week.
Everitt also said that because of where the two teams are situated on the log – Western Province finished second and the Sharks were third – the home team will be favourites and that will bring added pressure.
“They finished second on the log, so we’re probably underdogs. So the pressure is on them playing at home, plus with all the emotion of Newlands. I’m not sure why the away team has won the last few playoffs between us, but it probably comes down to the pressure of playing at home. Because of that pressure, it’s all going to come down to error-rate and discipline.
“If we’re not accurate in receiving kicks then we may be in trouble. But having Aphelele Fassi back at fullback adds a different dimension to our counter-attack and Manie Libbok did really well at fullback too and is on the bench. From an attack point of view, maybe we haven’t performed as well as we would have liked, but without continuity you’re going to struggle to get that synergy in attack,” Everitt said.
Sharks’ last 5 results at Newlands
June 15, 2019 Won 12-9 (SR)
October 27, 2018 Won 17-12 (CC final)
September 29, 2018 Lost 28-50 (CC)
July 7, 2018 Lost 16-27 (SR)
August 26, 2017 Won 21-20 (CC)
Sharks’ last 6 playoffs v WP/Stormers
October 27, 2018 Cape Town Won 17-12 (Currie Cup final)
October 28, 2017 Durban Lost 21-33 (Currie Cup final)
October 26, 2013 Cape Town Won 33-19 (Currie Cup final)
October 27, 2012 Durban Lost 18-25 (Currie Cup final)
July 28, 2012 Cape Town Won 26-19 (SuperRugby semi-final)
October 30, 2010 Durban Won 30-10 (Currie Cup final)