Ken Borland

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.

The arrival of tighthead prop Wiehahn Herbst at Kings Park on a short-term deal perhaps shows where the Sharks’ focus is this week as they prepare to take on the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday in their opening Rainbow Cup match.

With an all-Springbok front row of Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe believed to be lined up to play the Sharks, countering the scrum threat that Western Province will pose is obviously a starting point in the planning for coach Sean Everitt and his team.

Thomas du Toit, also a World Cup winning Springbok, is the first-choice tighthead at the moment, but the drop off in quality when the Sharks’ first-choice front row does not play was one of the worrying aspects for Everitt last season.

Herbst, who was at training on Tuesday, was a stalwart of the Sharks side between 2009 and 2014, making 40 Super Rugby appearances and 52 in the Currie Cup. The well-travelled 32-year-old has also played for the Bulls and Lions and has turned out 80 times for Ulster, earning a reputation as a powerful scrummager.

Which Du Toit acknowledged on Tuesday is exactly what the Sharks are going to need against the Stormers on Saturday.

“The Stormers are always a quality side and seem to be in a better space now than previously. They’re a fantastic side with a great pack and good game-plans, they are definitely still going to be a proper challenge to play against. They never shy away from the physical side, they look to dominate in the scrums and mauls.

“It’s a nice challenge to come up against the first-choice Springbok front row because you always want to measure yourself against the best and this is an awesome opportunity to do that,” Du Toit said.

The former Western Province U16 and U18 player said the Sharks have also noticed that Western Province have worked hard on their all-round game.

“We anticipate they’re going to bring both sides of the game, we’ve seen them play more in the preparation series. So we’re ready for both – the physical game and a more ball-in-hand, all-out attacking game. But we always stay the same, there’s a certain DNA at the Sharks which we always try to live out on the field,” Du Toit said.

Playing all of their fixtures against the European sides on foreign shores is going to prejudice the hopes of the four South African teams in the Rainbow Cup, but Sharks coach Sean Everitt believes his team should still be competitive given their history of travelling well during SuperRugby.

The Rainbow Cup starts on April 24, with the South African franchises playing local derbies on the first three weekends. They then cross over to the Northern Hemisphere to play the existing Pro14 sides. While the fixtures for Rounds 4-6 have not yet been confirmed due to uncertainty over travel plans, those matches will all definitely be in Europe.

“We only have three domestic games and two of ours are not at Kings Park, but those are the cards we have been dealt and we just have to get on with it. But the Sharks have always travelled well and I expect the same. We will be there for two weeks before our first game so we can get used to conditions and I don’t think conditions will be as severe at the end of May as some people are expecting.

“We are looking forward to the challenge of playing against new teams and creating new memories and great experiences. But I think SuperRugby will be missed because it suited our style of play, we want to attack, it’s in our DNA, and it was a great competition. Our squad will stay the same as now, we’re only allowed to sign 45 players and I think we have to take 42 of them over there,” Everitt said at the weekend.

While the beloved free-flowing play of SuperRugby will be missed, Bulls coach Jake White said some of the less appealing features of the southern hemisphere competition once it expanded – such as the lopsided nature of the draw – will be repeated in the Rainbow Cup.

“We know our first three games are in South Africa so that’s our focus. But it’s not ideal to be playing all the European teams away, especially if conditions get helluva tough. But it’s going to be the same for all the South African sides. The Rainbow Cup is a very unique competition in that you have six games to get into the final and four of ours are away from home.

“But we’re lucky because some teams [the Sharks] have five away games. It’s a great opportunity to prepare for when we actually do play Pro16, but it’s a bit like SuperRugby if you didn’t have the favourable draw. Like if you had to play the Crusaders, Chiefs and Hurricanes away, you had a very much more difficult draw than the teams that played them in South Africa,” White said.

As they prepare to wade their way into turbulent European waters, Bulls coach Jake White said the heavy defeat his team suffered at the hands of the Sharks in Durban this weekend was a valuable “learning curve” for his youngsters.

The second-string Bulls emerged from their Kings Park clash like up-country visitors battered by the Ballito breakers as they were on the wrong end of a 45-12 scoreline.

“After 25 minutes we were 31-5 down but we did not let them score again until the 74^th minute when we only had 13 men on the field. It’s never nice to be on the wrong end of that sort of result but there was fighting sprit and we can build on that. The Sharks played really well and they created some really good tries with their catch-and-pass style. But it was almost their exact team from the Currie Cup final.

“We were a bit inexperienced and it was difficult weather. But if we’re not winning then we’re learning and I’m very chuffed with the way we came back, you’ve got to be proud of the effort and commitment. It could have been a 70-pointer, but we’ll take it as being all part of the learning curve for these guys. Overall I’m very happy with the preparation series,” White said.

So impressive was the Sharks’ handling in the sodden conditions of a Kings Park swamp in those opening stages that it seemed some voodoo must have been involved.

“I thought it was an outstanding first half-hour and then unfortunately things went a little awry. But they were very difficult conditions – humid and wet – and the guys were very brave with ball in hand. We wanted to play quickly, we moved the ball around and the skill level was very high. Our plan was to up the pace as much as we could.

“There’s a certain style of rugby we want to play and we counter-attacked really well. We did not play much in our own half, but it’s not all about kicking, it’s about getting the balance right and from turnover ball you have about a 10-second window to move the ball and we managed to move it so quickly. Our set-piece also did really well at the start,” a pleased Sharks coach Sean Everitt said.