Sharks know Dragons will be different in Challenge Cup clash

Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell knows that the Dragons team they will face will be a different challenge to the one they defeated in the United Rugby Championship.

The Durban-based side will be welcomed by the Dragons to Rodney Parade for a Challenge Cup encounter on Sunday at 7.30pm SA time.

The game will be the last of the pool stages, with both sides having their sights set on going through to the next round. The Sharks go into the match with 12 points, while the Dragons have seven.

It will also be the second time these two teams meet this season; they faced off in the URC last November at Durban’s Kings Park when the Sharks emerged victorious with a 69-14 win on that day.

“We’ll have to be clinical”

Powell is not paying too much attention to their previous win over the Dragons ahead of Sunday’s clash.

“We also understand they will be different to the team that we played here in Durban, where we beat them 69-14 about five weeks ago. So we expect a big challenge from the Dragons.

“Going into this Dragons game, if we want to be successful there, we can’t have one area of our game that’s not functioning to its potential. We’ll have to be clinical all round,” Powell said.

Dragons firepower

On paper the Sharks are expected to get an easy win in Wales, however, they are not letting their guard down. The coaching staff have been doing their homework on the Dragons, looking at their traits.

“We have done our analysis on the team, I think they are pretty much a team that kicks long and tries to pin you in your half and for you to give them set phases to attack from.

“They are pretty good in their first three phases, that’s where they score most of their tries from, the first three phases of the lineout or scrum.

“You can see that they spend quite a lot of time in their set phase strikes and how they score from it. That’s probably what we will get from them,” he said.

Powell is expecting the weather to have a role in the tactics that are adopted.

“With the weather, it will not be the greatest day, it might be raining. We can expect to get into a kicking battle with them to try and transfer pressure to try and win the kicking game,” he said.