Ken Borland

Sean Everitt is a coach for whom consistency in selection is important and the Sharks will duly field an unchanged starting line-up in their Rainbow Cup match against the Lions at Kings Park on Saturday.

Although Everitt has put on record his disappointment with the quality of the performance against the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend, the 33-30 victory has nevertheless been rewarded with 21 of the 23-man squad retaining their places for the Lions match.

The only two changes to the group are rotational switches on the bench, with Le Roux Roets replacing JJ van der Mescht as substitute lock and Jaden Hendrikse, having recovered from concussion, now the back-up scrumhalf instead of Sanele Nohamba.

“We fought back well against the Stormers last weekend, the guys generally did well and showed a lot of character. I would like to build some consistency, so there are only two changes on the bench. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves in Cape Town, especially in the first 20 minutes when we slipped some tackles. But in patches, like when Reniel Hugo blitzed his hat-trick, we were absolutely sublime.

“But in terms of the performance not being good, we have set standards and conceding 29 turnovers is just something we cannot do. We want to enjoy our rugby and you can’t do that if you concede that number of turnovers,” Everitt said on Thursday.

Scrumhalf looks set to give Everitt plenty of selection posers through the season because the Sharks certainly have tremendous depth there with current starter Grant Williams, Hendrikse and Nohamba. They are all young, nippy and attack-minded halfbacks that suite the quick tempo with which the Sharks want to play.

“We have three great scrumhalves and we are able to rotate them. Grant is the oldest at 24 but he hasn’t played much because he’s been unfortunate with a few serious injuries. But he has come good now. Jaden (21) and Sanele (22) are both still relatively young, but they are learning and growing,” 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. Bench – Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wiehahn Herbst, Le Roux Roets, Phepsi Buthelezi, Jaden Hendrikse, Manie Libbok, Werner Kok.

The Lions went at the breakdown like a pack of dogs in their opening-round Rainbow Cup fixture against the Bulls, so their opponents this weekend, the Sharks, know that the rucks are going to be a key area of their game at Kings Park on Saturday.

The Sharks were dogged by turnovers last weekend against a Stormers side whose efforts in that department were led by the excellent Nama Xaba, so eighthman Sikhumbuzo Notshe admitted on Tuesday that the breakdowns were a major area of focus for them this week.

“There are always work-ons after the first round of a competition, but the breakdown is a focus this week because of how poor we were in Cape Town. We let the stealers get their hands on the ball, our reaction-time was poor. When someone carries the ball, you have to look after them.

”We haven’t shown consistency in that area and in some games we’ve just lost concentration. Sometimes we just don’t look after our team-mate when they go into contact, but we’ve addressed that and we are working hard on that,” Notshe said on Tuesday.

While the Sharks were not happy with how they played against the Stormers, Notshe said their defensive commitment and discipline were two big positives from the 33-30 win.

“It was a 100% effort. We were 20-3 down at one stage but the energy and intensity levels stayed good, and we must never lose that feeling for each other. At the end it would have been easy to give up a penalty, but we forced them to kick a 50/50 grubber instead. Our defence was good and so was our discipline, those were the positives and the areas where we have shown growth.

“We also adapted well to the new laws. We have to make sure we start and finish well against the Lions, they are a very physical team and we also respect them because they showed in our Super Rugby Unlocked match what they can do in the second 40. Their general [Elton Jantjies] is away on loan, so that probably gives us an edge, but we respect Fred Zeilinga, he didn’t do badly against the Bulls, he controlled the game well,” Notshe said.

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.

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.