VIDEO: Jake likens Sharks to glory days of 90's

VIDEO: Not since the days of Ian McIntosh has the Sharks had such a talented team to field, and on Saturday, they have to get past the Bulls for a berth in the United Rugby Championship Final.

McIntosh plotted the unthinkable in 1990 when the ‘Banana Boys’ beat the mighty Northern Transvaal of Naas Botha in the Currie Cup final in Pretoria.

On that day, Natal won their first title in their 100-year history. With the country starved of international sport, this was probably the biggest sporting event and story of the year.

With Ian Mac at the helm of Sharks rugby in the 90s, the Sharks became one of the leading unions in world rugby.

Players like Henry Honiball, Joel Stransky, Pieter Muller, Andre Joubert, Gary Teichmann, and Mark Andrews went from good to great under the tutelage of McIntosh.

That Sharks team won four Currie Cups in the 1990s — 1990, ‘92, ’95, and ’96.

On Saturday, Jake White’s Bulls team faces a Sharks side boasting 13 Springboks compared to their 10.

Most bookies out there have touted the Bulls as firm favourites for this humongous clash, but White offered a different view, not only highlighting the bigger number of Boks in the Sharks team, but comparing them to that 90s team.

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“I’ve said this before, this is probably one of the best Sharks teams that’s ever been on paper.

“It reminds me of Pieter Muller, Henry Honiball, Jeremy Thomson, Cabous van der Westhuizen, Andre Joubert – I think they’re 15 out of the 54 Springbok players [in the squad announced on Thursday].

“So it’s not too bad, you know,” White told reporters during the team announcement on Friday.

“There’s a reason [the Sharks] have beaten us twice this season.

“They’ve got a good team, I think that 12 of their starting XV are Springboks, and off the top of my head, if you go through that pack, only two flankers aren’t Springboks, and the rest are – and not only Springboks but World Cup winners.”

The announcement of the Springbok squad a day before the Bulls and Sharks announced their team line-ups might not have been the most opportune time, according to White.

“It’s interesting, because yesterday [Thursday] they announced the 54-man squad. You don’t have to be too clever to work out it’s like trials tomorrow [Saturday].

“One of the messages I gave to the players is, don’t play like it is trials.

“Often what happens in these situations, whenever you announce a [Bok] team before a big game … there are 54 guys who want to become Springboks.

“They want to be in the first round, they know they’ve got to compete against the guys they’re playing against tomorrow.

“It doesn’t matter what I say, they know that this is an opportunity in front of selectors, and the public, for them to stake a claim. My job is just to get them to understand it’s not about individuals tomorrow, it’s about how we played [this season].

“I said to them in the change room today: they’ve been picked on what they did the last 18 weeks, it’s got nothing to do with what they have to do tomorrow, that’s my message … I just want them to continue doing that.”