Ken Borland

Although the Sharks have rotated their loose forwards, a lock, scrumhalf and centre, coach Sean Everitt says he is pleased their URC opponents on Friday night – the Dragons – have bolstered their team with four internationals saying it “will be a good game for us to develop further”.

While the Sharks’ powerhouse front row of Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Thomas du Toit remains the same, Le Roux Roets comes in for Reniel Hugo at No.4 lock and James Venter, Jeandre Labuschagne and Phepsi Buthelezi will be the loose trio, with Siya Kolisi and Sikhumbuzo Notshe on the bench and Henco Venter resting.

Jaden Hendrikse rotates with Grant Williams at scrumhalf and Jeremy Ward replaces Marius Louw at inside centre.

The Dragons, meanwhile, have been reinforced by the arrival of Wales representatives in flanks Ross Moriarty, Aaron Wainwright and Taine Basham, and lock Will Rowlands.

“Facing the Dragons with their internationals will be a good game for us to develop further,” Everitt said. “Our rotation was premeditated and not because of last weekend’s loss, but it’s very important that we improve every week.

“Last week the guys did everything in their power to win, we won every aspect of the game from the power battle to metres kicked, but obviously everyone looks at the opportunities we created on attack and did not convert.

“Next week will be five games in a row and in my experience players start to fatigue after game four, so it’s a good time to start freshening up after three weeks,” Everitt said.

The Sharks are confident they will have the grunt up front to counter what they believe will be a huge response from the Dragons to their 55-20 mauling at the hands of the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend.

“We expect a big physical onslaught from the Dragons, they will be a different kettle of fish this week,” Everitt said.

“But James Venter has shown that when he is on form he is probably one of the best No.6s in the country, he was chosen for the Green and Gold match after outstanding performances in 2020.

“Phepsi Buthelezi has performed well but we felt we needed to give Sikhumbuzo Notshe a string of games after he recovered from injury. Jeandre Labuschagne is a good lineout option.

“And Thomas du Tout has experience of what is required as captain, he is proud to be captain and I am sure he will show that. He is a no-nonsense man,” Everitt said.

Sharks team: Anthony Volmink, Werner Kok, Ben Tapuai, Jeremy Ward, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Jeandre Labuschagne, James Venter, Gerbrandt Grobler, Le Roux Roets, Thomas du Toit (c), Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Replacements – Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Reniel Hugo, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Siya Kolisi, Grant Williams, Boeta Chamberlain.

The Bulls kept climbing the United Rugby Championship log at the weekend, overtaking the Sharks as their emphatic 55-20 win over the Dragons at Loftus Versfeld lifted them up into seventh place, but coach Jake White, although satisfied, still wants them to up their game.

“You’ve got to be proud of that performance, the way we are playing is nice and there’s good interplay between the backs and forwards,” White said.

“It’s nice to have a forward pack that can score from five metres out, but also backs who can score from fifty metres out. We’re not the finished product yet, but there is a lot to be happy about.

“We can still get better in all areas, although we are scrumming well, the maul is working and the backs are scoring tries. But to win this competition, we need to be better at everything.

“So that means having an all-round game, like Leinster, who can attack you with anything. There’s no one particular area in which we are struggling, but we will need to play a different game in the mud and wet of Europe,” White said.

The well-travelled World Cup winning coach gave credit to his team for getting the balance right between attack and defence, while heaping special praise on fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse, whose second try from 70 metres out is surely going to be a contender for try of the year.

“I really enjoyed the way we would score and then exit to halfway, it was clinical and well-executed. We want to get a balanced game and the balance is working right now.

“It helps to have a phenomenal fullback like Kurt-Lee. He’s not only scoring amazing tries but also kicks the ball 50-60 metres.

“He complements Harold Vorster and Lionel Mapoe, who are playing very well in midfield,” White said.

The Sharks spent so much time in the Edinburgh 22 that they were practically residents, but they only managed to score five points in their United Rugby Championship match in Durban, so their awful finishing was unsurprisingly the focus of coach Sean Everitt’s post-match press conference.

Their 21-5 loss to Edinburgh means the Sharks have now slipped to eighth place behind the Stormers and Bulls and are in danger of slipping out of the playoff spots.

“It’s extremely frustrating when you create so many opportunities and you just can’t finish them,” Everitt said. “Against top teams, you need to take every opportunity and the points on offer.

“We got our maul going but we just could not finish off and capitalise on that. We had territorial and possession advantage, but we missed penalties and at times missed touch too.

“Our plan worked quite well and we got into position, but we just weren’t clinical enough to round off. It’s the same challenge every week.

“It’s all about accuracy at this higher level, how accurately you can execute on the opportunities you are given. We will have to review the game and see where we can get better,” Everitt said.

The defeat will place the spotlight firmly on some of Everitt’s selections. Curwin Bosch has now been given a run starting at flyhalf, but he was poor against Edinburgh, failing to kick a couple of penalties to touch and missing all three of his shots at goal, one of them from in front of the poles.

The departure of captain Lukhanyo Am to Japan has obviously unsettled the team and the Sharks are battling to replace him at outside centre, with Ben Tapuai and Jeremy Ward tried there without conspicuous success.

While the Sharks were cruising to bonus point wins over the likes of Benetton, the Scarlets and Zebre, they were still performances with a high error-count, especially in terms of finishing, and the worry was that the cracks that had been papered over would be exposed by the top URC sides.

Edinburgh certainly proved that to be the case as they made shark fin soup of the home side at a sopping wet Kings Park.

As a human being, Mark Boucher seems to lack the gene for a fear of failure which made him one of the most tenacious cricketers around, but now as a coach he has admitted to frustration that that is exactly the weakness his Proteas team showed as they crashed to a series loss to Bangladesh in humiliating fashion in the third and final ODI at Centurion on Wednesday evening.

Choosing to bat first, South Africa’s batsmen folded meekly to 154 all out in 37 overs. Bangladesh them showed them how to bat on the SuperSport Park pitch as they raced to victory in just 26-and-a-half overs with just one wicket down.

“We lacked intent, we went to sleep after a good start to our innings,” Boucher said after the loss. “We wanted to take the game forward, you do need to take some risks, but there was almost a fear of getting out.

“It was as if we were not batting to set a total, which Bangladesh showed should have been more than 300, but batting to not get out, and then we spiralled into a total collapse.

“We need to have belief in how we play, we’ve played spin very well in places like Sri Lanka but then we come back here and go back to old ways. We have to have faith to play the way we want to play.

“We wanted to be proactive, we have worked hard on shot-selection and the guys know they have the armoury. But it’s like a mental block. We need to put the fear of failure out of our minds, the fear of getting out,” Boucher said.

What is baffling, however, is that much the same team beat India 3-0 in January and they should have had the confidence of a billionaire on the front cover of Forbes magazine. Boucher said the vagaries of form had also played a role in the shock series defeat.

“Against India we had guys in great form and there were big partnerships. In this series we lost an aggressive player like Aiden Markram whose form is worrying, so new guys come into the team.

“In the back of their heads they probably want to get runs to prove that they belong here, and that brings in a bit of fear. Maybe they are too scared to play the way they should.

“So it comes down to a lack of form and belief,” Boucher said.