Ken Borland

The Sharks made a painfully slow start to their Rainbow Cup match against the Stormers in Cape Town at the weekend, which did not please coach Sean Everitt at all, but he was happy that his team showed the character to win in the end.

The Sharks were 17-0 down after 12 minutes but eventually triumphed 33-30 and were helped by the Stormers having to play with 14 men for 40 minutes due to two red cards (with replacements allowed after 20 minutes under the new trial laws) and 13 men for 10 minutes. The first of those red cards came in the 13^th minute when wing Seabelo Senatla clumsily upended fullback Aphelele Fassi in the air.

“Obviously we’re not happy with the performance but we’ll take the result and I guess it’s the sign of a good team that you can win when you haven’t played well. Thanks to our conditioning I thought we did really well at the end, especially in stopping their driving mauls. In the last 20 minutes we just could not get out of our 22, we just didn’t have possession.

“It was not the performance we wanted, but the positive is that the guys showed character, work-rate and effort. What was really pleasing is that we are not a team that gives up. The guys found a way to win and at times we moved the ball really nicely. We knew it would be an uphill battle against the Stormers with all their Springboks, but we need to be better,” was Everitt’s frank assessment after the game.

The hard slog for the Sharks began in the lineouts and they also conceded too many penalties. But the new trial laws allowing the Stormers to replace their red-carded players after 20 minutes most certainly kept the home side in the game. Although the new rules made his life harder, Everitt said he supported the change in regulations.

“It’s always tough for the spectacle when there’s an early red card and what Senatla did was not intentional, probably just careless, it was not malicious at all. Fortunately Aphelele was not injured. I think it’s a good idea that a team can change their red-carded players after 20 minutes,” Everitt said.

Bulls coach Jake White wants his team to be flexible and so he was satisfied that they were able to ‘win ugly’ in their opening Rainbow Cup match against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.

White had before the game promised an attacking approach if conditions were dry, and the Bulls started superbly, keeping ball in hand for two minutes from the kickoff and then scoring the opening try. But thereafter they were constrained by a watertight, rapidly approaching Lions defence and the soft underfoot conditions, only managing to cross the tryline again in the 66^th and 80^th minutes for a 22-9 win.

The victory and a bonus point would also have been in the bag much earlier if the Bulls hadn’t had three tries disallowed due to captain’s referrals.

“Sometimes you’ve got to win these sort of games and we found a way to win. The Lions were very good at the breakdown, they tried to slow us down all the time. To have four tries disallowed – I think the yellow card for a deliberate knock-on could maybe have been a penalty try – was helluva frustrating because you keep thinking you’ve put a bit of distance between you and the opposition.

“But we know everyone will be coming for us because we’ve won the last two trophies and today we had to vasbyt for the win. We started so well and we were probably seduced a bit by that, the players maybe thought it was like a training run. But then the Lions had so many players in the line … if we had turned them around more with little kicks then we could have found a bit more space behind them,” White said after the Bulls’ 13^th successive win at home.

The Bulls dominated possession but at times they suffered from the rugby equivalent of bulimia – having an over-abundance of ball and generally keeping it in hand meant they also coughed up a lot of possession as the Lions dominated the breakdowns.

“We will work on not being sucked into playing too much rugby, sometimes we need to be a bit smarter. But we did end up playing into the wind in both halves because the wind turned … it was a bit extraordinary, something we’re not used to here. But it’s exciting times with guys like Elrigh Louw and Janko Swanepoel just out of the U21s, Mornay Smith is a young tighthead, Joe van Zyl, Stravino Jacobs and David Kriel are all young.

“But if you have too many youngsters then they can start to panic, so it’s nice for them to learn from the seniors exactly how to close off a game. I told the bench before the match that I was looking for composure at the end, for them to show maturity, and I was satisfied that they did. Lizo Gqoboka, Arno Botha and Morne Steyn are all Springboks, Jacques van Rooyen is very experienced, and it showed,” White said.

The Bulls will once again be led by Nizaam Carr from eighthman and coach Jake White said he is excited by the attacking possibilities of the “athletic” team he has chosen to open their Rainbow Cup campaign against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Lions have traditionally enjoyed moving the ball wide and White on Friday announced a team to ensure that they are not stretched to breaking by their Gauteng rivals on Saturday.

“Obviously guys like Duane Vermeulen and Trevor Nyakane are not available because they are having their one-week off as requested by the Springboks, and Stedman Gans has joined the Sevens camp, but it’s quite an athletic team we’ve chosen. Prop Gerhard Steenekamp was an eighthman at school, Johan Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith are both mobile, we have two ligther locks together [Ruan Nortje & Janko Swanepoel] and Nizaam Carr is at eight.

“There are good athletes in this side and ball-players, and hopefully the sun comes out on Saturday and it’s dry. If we play the way we can, then we can keep the ball alive for long periods and get some nice attacking rugby going,” White said on Friday.

The well-travelled coach said he was disappointed that the Rainbow Cup would no longer have an overseas component, but that another double round of local derbies will allow him to work more on his combinations for later in the year.

“It’s disappointing for me that we won’t be going to Europe because I wold like to see different opposition. But one year ago we weren’t playing rugby at all, so let’s rather play each other again than nothing at all. It’s not first prize but at least we are playing rugby. We want to keep winning and keep our momentum going, keep growing as a team.

“We have three Springboks on the bench this weekend because I want to challenge the players and it’s nice to see other combinations. From our perspective it would get a bit boring just to play the same old guys over and over, and when we lose players to the Springboks or we’re playing in the rain, we need to see what combinations are suitable,” White said.

Bulls: James Verity-Amm, Madosh Tambwe, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier, Nizaam Carr, Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Janko Swanepoel, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Joe van Zyl, Lizo Gqoboka, Jacques van Rooyen, Walt Steenkamp, Arno Botha, Zak Burger, Morné Steyn, David Kriel.

Siya Kolisi did okay in Cape Town, but judging by coach Sean Everitt’s report card since the Springbok captain moved to Durban, the Sharks are expecting him to have an explosive impact in the Rainbow Cup.

And, as fate would have it, the Sharks’ first game in the new competition is back in Cape Town against the Stormers and Kolisi was on Thursday named in the starting line-up in the No.6 jersey.

“Siya arrived here under a lot of pressure but he certainly stood up and has trained very hard. The training has been a step up from what he was used to, but he has had really good preparation now and there has been a vast improvement in his conditioning.

“As he showed in the preparation series, his contributions on the field are telling and he’s a lot more involved in our system than he was with Western Province. He brings a lot of experience and leadership too, and the guys look up to him and take a lot of confidence from him being on the field,” Everitt said on Thursday.

The Sharks ruined Western Province’s farewell to Newlands back in January when they beat them 19-9 in the Currie Cup semi-finals. They absorbed plenty of pressure from the much-vaunted WP pack on that day, demolishing their maul, and Everitt on Thursday backed his pack to nullify the Stormers up front again.

“Obviously the challenge is going to come at scrum and lineout time, but it’s the same scrums both teams had in Super Rugby and a turnover scrum won us that game. Ox Nche and Thomas du Toit are both in the Springbok fold and Fez Mbatha must be knocking on the door, so it’s going to be an interesting tussle with their front row.

“In the Currie Cup, Western Province were more set-piece orientated, but I think the Stormers will come with a mixture of styles on Saturday because they would have got a lot of confidence from the preparation series where they scored some great tries and their attack certainly came on leaps and bounds. That makes it more difficult for us, but if we nullify them up front then we should be okay,” Everitt said.

Sharks team – Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (C), Jeremy Ward, Yaw Penxe, Curwin Bosch, Grant Williams, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Henco Venter, Siya Kolisi, Reniel Hugo, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Fez Mbatha, Ox Nche. Replacements: Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wiehahn Herbst, JJ van der Mescht, Phepsi Buthelezi, Sanele Nohamba, Manie Libbok, Werner Kok.