Sharks should walk it but stranger things have happened

One naturally assumes that the Sharks should see off the Sunwolves with ease at Kings Park on Saturday, but with the home side resting some first-choice players and the pressure mounting on them to win their first game of the Super Rugby season, there is always the potential for something silly to happen.

Coach Robert du Preez said he could not just “pay lip-service” to utilising the depth in his squad, but exhorted the players to show patience while also, just to be safe, talking up the strength of the Sunwolves.

“I always said we would utilise the strength of the squad, we have to do it and we believe this is a good opportunity. There’s a lot of competition, 31 or 32 players in the reckoning, so it’s a great place to be. Last week the players were very disappointed, they just lacked patience.

“But I believe we’re on the cusp of a really good game. It’s just about timing and the boys are really energised and looking forward to a great last game before we travel. But the Sunwolves have been good in both their previous games, they have a great coaching staff and some very experienced players, so it’s going to be a very tough game, we can’t underestimate them,” Du Preez said.

But that is exactly the danger when one fields an under-strength side and, with the added pressure of expectation that the Sharks will easily beat the Sunwolves, there is a real danger that the Sharks will try and play too much rugby, too soon, against the Japanese side.

That will surely lead to the sort of scrappy game the Sunwolves thrive on, so ball-retention rather than the end-goal of scoring tries should probably be the focus of the Sharks.

“People see sunshine but the humidity is unbelievable and it makes it difficult to play multiphase rugby. But we just need a bit more patience, when we put the phases together we look really dangerous. We have to remember that we only took the game away from them in the last five minutes the last time we played them,” Du Preez said.

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