Sharks director of rugby Jake White is upbeat about the Durban side’s chances of winning the 2014 Super Rugby competition despite failing to secure a home semifinal.
The Sharks will face the Highlanders in a playoff match this coming weekend and, should they claim victory, then a tough semifinal away to the Crusaders awaits. However, White has complete confidence that his team can advance.
“There are two big things in our favour,” said White when he reflected on the task that awaits his team.
“Firstly, we have beaten both teams that we have to tour to in order to win the competition, and that means we will have confidence playing against them. Secondly, we only have to travel once. It is not like 2012 when the players had to come back from Brisbane for a semifinal and then head back over to Hamilton for the final.
“If we beat the Highlanders in our play-off game in Durban this coming weekend, we will only have to fly one long-haul flight. We will fly to Sydney and connect to Christchurch, and then if we make the final we go back to Sydney, which is where we would have to go anyway as it is on the way home.”
White has no interest in the history that suggests that if it does turn out that way, and the Sharks end up playing a Sydney final after beating the Crusaders, it will be mission impossible for his team.
“If we going are going to get a situation where it is always the teams that finish first and second on the log that end up playing in the final then we might as well scrap the play-off games,” he said.
“What is the point of play-offs if we are just going to accept that the final finishing order is how the competition will end? Last year my Brumbies team finished third and we ended up playing the final, and this Sharks team can do the same. If we just accept it is impossible then there play-offs are a waste of time and we can save a lot of time and money, plus the players’ bodies for international rugby, by just scrapping them.”
