With just four rounds of action remaining in the Currie Cup pool stages, it’s reached that stage of the season when attention starts to shift to log positions and play-off permutations.
As it stands, Western Province enjoy a handy four-point buffer at the top of the table, but it’s pretty congested from there, with only six log points separating the second-placed Lions and sixth-placed Bulls.
And right in the middle, the Sharks have found themselves settling in at fourth place on the standings, eight points adrift of Province, but only four points behind the Lions.
It’s going to make for an enthralling run-in to the play-offs, particularly considering that there hasn’t been too much to choose between all the sides so far, while the fact that the Boks won’t return to domestic duty this year means there will be no late boost for some teams.
The mixed bag produced by the Sharks this season has been reflected in their track record up to this point, with three opening wins followed by back-to-back losses and then a draw.
Yet this past weekend there was at last some encouraging signs that the side was beginning to find their stride as they created a number of opportunities on attack and improved their phase play.
The Sharks will be hoping that it’s the start of better things to come, but more than anything, the coastal side will simply be desperate to return to winning ways when they take on the Bulls at Loftus tomorrow evening.
Captain Tera Mtembu said they had set their sights on an unbeaten run-in to the knockout phase of the competition.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position where we have to win every game, but our only focus now is on the Bulls. Whether they’re having a good season or not, the Bulls are always a tough team to beat in Pretoria. It’s a must win game for us, and if we can overcome this hurdle, then the other results will hopefully follow.”
The Sharks have enjoyed a favourable Currie Cup draw in the sense that the only “Super Rugby union” they have faced so far has been the Cheetahs, a team they played both home and away, along with the Pumas and Griquas.
And although the Durban side will surely be earmarking a bonus-point win over the EP Kings next weekend, their remaining matches against the Bulls, Lions and Western Province will be particularly challenging.
However, Mtembu insisted that they wouldn’t be daunted by this prospect.
“We want to try and win these last four games, and if we can do that, the log will take care of itself. If you look at the remaining games, we are going to face some real quality sides, but we just need to make sure we are up for it, and obviously execute well. If we do that, we should be fine.”
Despite the fact that the Sharks made important improvements to their game last weekend, a significant step up is still required if they are to enjoy success in their remaining cross-conference clashes.
Mtembu said they had pinpointed a couple of key areas where they needed to sharpen up.
“We've had a good look at our game and I think our big thing is that we are creating opportunities, but we aren’t executing well. Our discipline has also let us down, even though there was a big improvement in that regard last Saturday. Still, those are the main areas that we’ve been focussing on over last two weeks, and which we have to get right against the Bulls.”
Meanwhile, in the absence of suspended Deon Stegmann, Jono Ross will captain a Bulls side that shows four changes from the side that beat the Kings last weekend.
Blue Bulls: 15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Sampie Mastriet, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Jacques Louis Potgieter, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Jono Ross (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Wiaan Liebenberg, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Morné Mellett, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Jesse Kriel - Daily News