JP provides glimpse into Sharks' future
SPOTLIGHT: With their United Rugby Championship season already over with two rounds to spare, Sharks head coach JP Pietersen gave his insight into his planning for next season’s campaign.
Eyebrows were raised when Pietersen named rookie Zekhethelo Siyaya at flyhalf for their upcoming Round 16 URC clash against Benetton after making two appearances at fullback for the Durbanietes this season.
There is good reasoning behind this.
With Jordan Hendrikse possibly being involved in Springbok camps next year and Jean Smith moving on to Benetton, the Sharks need to build their depth at flyhalf.
The Sharks have Siya Masuku and Junior Bok Vusi Moyo on their books, but with Masuku heading into his 30s and not being in great form as of late and Moyo still a rough gem, it makes sense that Pietersen is willing to roll the dice with Siyaya in a match that has no impact on his team at this stage of the season.
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“With Siyaya at No.10, we are planning ahead for the future,” Pietersen said in an online media conference on Thursday.
“We know Jean [Smith] is moving on [to Benetton] in his last season with the Sharks, and we want to see if [Zekhethelo] Siyaya have the capability to play flyhalf.
“It will be good if he can play more than one position. He played [No.10] in high school up until Under-16 [level] before transitioning to fullback.
“So we will see what he can bring at No.10.”
Pietersen outlined the team’s goals and objectives for their remaining games against Italian outfits Benetton and Zebre at home over the course of the next two weeks.
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“We want to produce strong results in the remaining two games and thank the fans for supporting us,” Pietersen told Rugby365.
“Obviously, the players will play for each other. It’s been a tough campaign with several challenges.
“One must give credit to the group of players who played most of the games and kept a positive, fighting attitude to make the jersey proud.
“And we’ve made the move to play Siyaya at No.10 to see if we can find some gold with him being in that position.
“We also want to see how Litelihle Bester tracks in his development, and it’s also great to see Phatu Ganyane doing well at loosehead [prop] covering for Ox [Nche].
“A good performance will be satisfactory for us, but we are disappointed as Siya [Kolisi] mentioned earlier this week not to make the top eight – it still hurts, but all that we can do is put up a good performance.”
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