Sharks have plan for wild-running Hurricanes
SUPER RUGBY SPOTLIGHT: It will be a contrast in styles when the Sharks host the Hurricanes in one of several crucial Round 16 games.
The Sharks have relied heavily on their hulking pack and stout defence to keep them in the play-off hunt.
Arriving at Kings Park open Saturday will be a Hurricanes team intent on running those big men ragged.
Sharks lock Botha, who has regained his form after a lengthy injury lay-off, said the key to such an encounter is “physical dominance” up front.
“It helps the team to have that dominance in the pack and we’re striving to keep building on it, week by week,” Botha told a media briefing at the team’s training base in Durban.
The 27-year-old, who will head to London Irish after the Super Rugby season, relish the change to get stuck in and contribute physically.
“I’ll do anything I can to get this team going forward,” he said.
Botha joins a mass exodus from Durban – which includes all three Du Preez brothers, Robert, Dan and Jean-Luc (all Sale Sharks), Armand van der Merwe (Sale), Philip van der Walt (Newcastle), Coenie Oosthuizen (Sale) and Jacques Vermeulen (Exeter Chiefs).
They all hope to make their final season a successful one, improving on their quarterfinal exits of the last three years.
However, the sixth-placed Sharks first have to qualify for the play-offs.
While sitting pretty on 33 points, they have a tough run-in – facing the Hurricanes, Jaguares (in Buenos Aires) and Stormers (Cape Town).
“For us, the play-offs have already started,” Botha said, adding: “every single game is a must-win.”
He said the Sharks will have to show plenty of the “character” they displayed in last week’s win over the Lions.
“It’s a proud moment when you turn the ball over after multiple phases and score at the other end,” he said in reference to Makazole Mapimpi’s intercept try in the final quarter of the game.
“That’s built a lot of confidence.”
However, the Hurricanes offer a very different challenge to the naive display the Lions currently offer.
“We know what an attacking threat the Hurricanes will present this weekend when they have the ball in hand,” Botha said.
“We know we need to stop their ball possession as quickly as possible.”
Like the Sharks, the Hurricanes also have plenty to lose, despite currently being second in the New Zealand conference and fourth overall.
“They’re in exactly the same position as us,” he said, adding: “They want to finish top of the log and they know what they need to do to catch up to the Crusaders in the New Zealand Conference.
“They’ll do everything possible to achieve that.
“The same counts for us in the South African Conference.”
He said they are expecting a “running game” from the visitors.
“It is going to be a battle of who can turn their opportunities into points.”
@rugby365com
