Sharks of 2025 a very different challenge, says Lions’ Redelinghuys

The Lions are preparing for a completely different challenge when they go head to head against the Sharks in their United Rugby Championship (URC) derby at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon, after coming unstuck against the Bulls at Loftus last weekend.

Last season the Lions did the double over the Sharks, edging them 20-18 in Durban before thrashing them 40-10 at Ellis Park, which were their first two wins in the URC over the coastal franchise.

However, the Sharks had something of a season to forget last time out, picking up just four wins against 14 losses to finish 14^th on the log in the 2023/24 campaign, and this season are basically a changed outfit, with them one of the form teams in the competition, as they have picked up seven wins and three losses to currently sit fourth.

Different challenge

The Lions thus know it will be a very different challenge this weekend, especially with the Sharks coming off a big win against the Bulls on the highveld last time out. This, despite the coastal side having a long injury list.

“It doesn’t matter if they have a lot of injuries, it doesn’t matter if their Springboks are resting. They just look like a bunch of guys who are playing really hard for each other,” explained Lions scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys on Tuesday.

“In their game against the Bulls they had 12 guys at a stage (on the field due to three men being carded) and they just never stopped fighting. So it just looks like their culture has grown over time, it looks like they are a happy camp and it looks like they are willing to work hard for each other.

“If you talk about the technical side of their game I think their attack is a lot more dynamic, their kicking game is really accurate, they do well to play towards space and defensively they work really hard. So they are a very different team to last year and we are not under any illusions about that.

“But we are also working towards where we want to be. We are looking forward to this weekend and testing ourselves against them. We also feel that our dynamic attack is getting better so it is going to be interesting to see how much ball is going to be in play this weekend.”

Double header

The match will be the first of a double header, with the Lions travelling down to Durban for the return derby next weekend and although they need to keep an eye on next weekend’s clash, Redelinghuys said the full focus is on the first game.

“It’s weird these double headers. It’s something we haven’t experienced much. Last year we had the Bulls twice in a row and this year it’s the Sharks twice in a row,” said Redelinghuys.

“But we just take it week by week. Obviously after the Bulls game (this past weekend) we have had a lot of things to look at, see what we did well and there are always things we can do better.

“So our focus is fully on this first game and then after that we will review the game and that review becomes a preview (for the next), so it is strange in that sense. But our focus is solely on this week and we will tackle next week when it comes.”