Ken Borland

Getting overwrought about it would be counter-productive, but the Sharks really need to be more clinical with their finishing if they hope to beat Edinburgh in their United Rugby Championship match at Kings Park on Saturday.

Edinburgh, who at one stage were second on the log before slipping to their current fifth place, are the highest-ranked team the Sharks will be facing since losing 35-24 to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun early last October.

The Sharks do have the confidence of a four-match winning streak, but they only just beat a 14-man Bulls side in Pretoria before wins over Benetton Treviso, Scarlets and Zebre Parma (the last two at home) were comfortable enough, but there was enough sloppiness for coach Sean Everitt to be agitated.

Against a top side like Edinburgh, the try-scoring chances will be fewer and further apart, and the Sharks cannot afford to let the 150-year-old Scottish club gain a foothold in the match through their own wastefulness.

“We need to finish the opportunities we have created,” Everitt said this week. “We can’t leave four tries on the table like we did against Zebre, two of which were open-line passes that went astray.

“They were all elemental, quite fundamental errors that cost us the tries. It’s a shame because the guys have worked hard off the ball and we would have had really good wins if we had scored those extra tries,” Everitt said.

It will certainly be a highly motivated Edinburgh side as they look to arrest their slide and also make up for their 30-17 loss to archrivals Glasgow in last week’s 1872 Cup derby.

The Edinburgh team for Saturday is studded with South African products in props Boan Venter and Luan de Bruin and replacement flyhalf Jaco van der Walt. Blair Kinghorn is back from the Scotland team to start in the No.10 jersey for Edinburgh, while flank Hamish Watson, the 2021 Six Nations Player of the Tournament, also returns. Fullback Emiliano Boffelli will be well-known to South African fans as one of the stars of the Jaguares team in Super Rugby. Wing Ramiro Moyano is also a former Jaguares kingpin with 34 caps for Argentina.

“Edinburgh are a dangerous team that plays similar to Scotland. They keep the ball moving and they have dangerous backs.

“They will also bring a lot of pressure at the breakdown. We will have to defend well to keep their attack in check,” was the info Everitt was willing to divulge about his opposition.

Sitting 16^th and last in one of the United Rugby Championship’s statistical categories means the critics are always going to stare at that facet of the game, but forwards coach Russell Winter is adamant that the Bulls are really making progress in the scrums.

The Bulls have won 87% of their scrums, which is 1% less than the Ospreys and only 2% worse than the Stormers, who are generally considered to have a strong set-piece anchored by Steven Kitshoff.

“The margins are very small, one or two percent. We have really good players here and they work really hard,” Winter said on Tuesday. “Set-piece gives you control of a game and we are definitely getting better in the scrums.

“We lost a very good player in Trevor Nyakane and we’ve had some injuries. So we need to make sure we get some depth, particularly in the front row. We need to look at signing props to get depth.

“We don’t have any new signings there at the moment, but we are looking. But props are really hard to come by and no-one has really been open to negotiation.

“We do have two scrum coaches in Werner Kruger and Edgar Marutlulle and things have definitely progressed. And we’re very happy to have Mornay Smith back, he’s playing Currie Cup in midweek,” Winter said.

The Bulls did, however, announce the signing on Tuesday of the versatile Ruan Vermaak, the former Lions and Red Hurricanes lock who can also play back row.

The Bulls face the Dragons in Pretoria on Saturday and even though the Welshmen have struggled this season having lost their most-capped player, stalwart captain and loose forward Lewis Evans, to retirement at the end of last year, Winter is expecting their pack to come out wanting to move heaven and earth.

“We’re not too sure yet of their travelling squad but Welsh internationals coming back will obviously strengthen their pack and they will want to play well after Wales lost to Italy.

“Their coach Dean Ryan was at Newcastle where I played and he is a tough man, so I imagine he is a tough coach too. So the Dragons will have a hard pack and they will definitely come at us.

“It will be a big pack too, so we gave our guys a couple of days off to make sure we are ready for what’s coming. It’s going to be a good battle up front,” Winter said.

The Sharks will continue to hide their leading URC players away from doing dual duty in the Currie Cup even though they are hosting the table-topping Free State Cheetahs in a vital match at Kings Park on Wednesday, but one star player who will feature, albeit off the bench, is Dylan Richardson.

Following their defeat to a star-studded Bulls team last week, the Sharks have slipped to third place on the log and are four points behind the unbeaten Cheetahs. But while the Bulls have regularly targeted key Currie Cup games by fielding several URC starters, the KwaZulu-Natalians are following a different policy.

But Richardson, named as a replacement loose forward on Tuesday, will certainly bring some quality. The 23-year-old Scottish international is a bit of a hoodlum on the field and he has already been bringing an edge to the Sharks’ training sessions following his return from a stress fracture in his leg.

“Dylan has been out for a while with a succession of unfortunate injuries and we can see he is really champing at the bit,” Sharks Currie Cup coach Etienne Fynn said on Tuesday.

“We’ve had a bit of niggle in training recently and it has been driven by him mostly,” Fynn added with a smile.

The feisty Richardson, who made his debut for Scotland towards the end of last year, will bring dynamism and power to the Sharks team and targets the breakdown hard, all valuable assets against a free-flowing Free State side.

As for the Sharks’ decision to not load their side – they also have a United Rugby Championship match against Edinburgh on Saturday evening – Fynn says the union’s management are rating the Currie Cup players just as highly as the URC regulars.

“I told the forwards today after a lineout session that not one of them is not good enough to be picked for the URC,” Fynn said. “We have a decent side with quality individuals.

“The opposition does not matter, we still have proper rugby players like Dian Bleuler, Hyron Andrews, James Venter and Fez Mbatha. We just try to field our most competitive team every time.

“Because of the URC, and playing two competitions at once, sometimes players have to double up and then it’s tough. The Free State Cheetahs are privileged to have consistency of selection.

“So we decided to go with the same pack as against the Bulls last week. That way you have the understanding of what the guy next to you is doing. The Cheetahs are really polished in the opposition 22 and that comes with playing together,” Fynn said.

Sharks team – Jordan Chait, Yaw Penxe, Jeremy Ward, Ethan Fisher, Curwin Gertse, Tito Bonilla, Cameron Wright (v/c), Celimpilo Gumede, Thembelani Bholi, James Venter (c), Hyron Andrews, Emile van Heerden, Wiehahn Herbst, Fez Mbatha, Dian Bleuler. Replacements: Dan Jooste, Braam Reyneke, Lourens Adriaanse, Jeandre Labuschagne, Dylan Richardson, OJ Noah, Sanele Nohamba, Lloyd Koster.

Marizanne Kapp has proven her ability to keep her wits about her when everyone else is losing their heads at the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand, but South Africa’s star all-rounder is confident some of the other batters will step up this week and offer more support to banker Laura Wolvaardt.

Kapp’s heroics at the death mean South Africa go into the third week of the World Cup unbeaten. But it is a massive week for the Proteas with matches against Australia (Tuesday), the West Indies (Thursday) and India (Sunday) to come. One more win will confirm their place in the semi-finals.

Wolvaardt has led the way for the South African batting with three half-centuries in four innings, but Kapp and captain Sune Luus are the only other Proteas to have scored more than 100 runs in their four matches.

“We have been a bit lucky, we’ve got away with a few games where experience pulled us through,” Kapp admitted on Sunday. “We are aware that we have not played our best cricket yet.

“But I am sure we will come back stronger this week. The bowling has been decent, because it’s not easy bowling on these pitches which are a lot slower than we are used to.

“But if our batting can really come to the party then that will help a lot. Wolvie has been brilliant, you’re still calm as long as she’s in the middle. She’s amazing to have, a banker for us.

“Sune has supported her in a couple of brilliant partnerships, but we need a few more batters to put up their hands and that will get us to 280-300 and the perfect game,” Kapp said.

Affectionately known as Kappie, the 32-year-old has certainly punctuated this World Cup with some superb matchwinning efforts. She puts it down to backing her preparation and skills.

“A lot of times in the past I did doubt myself, but preparation is really big for me, I need to know I’ve done the work ahead of a game. So I back the way I prepare,” Kapp said.

“But all the T20 leagues I play in around the world really help too, they give me confidence, playing with the best players in the world and on the biggest stages. It means I back my skills as well.

“And it helps as an all-rounder to be able to make up with the other skill if the one doesn’t go so well,” Kapp said.