Durban - If last weekend’s first round of Super Rugby action was anything to go by, fans should be prepared to expect the unexpected this season.
Bizarrely, six out of the seven teams playing at home suffered defeats. This included last year’s finalists, the NSW Waratahs, and Canterbury Crusaders, who went down to the Western Force and to Melbourne Rebels of all teams.
And there was no more “sanity” in South Africa either, where the Lions lost at Ellis Park despite playing all the rugby against the Wellington Hurricanes, the Bulls were humbled at home by the Stormers, and the highly-fancied Sharks were outplayed by the Cheetahs in Durban.
From a neutral’s perspective, the shock results were surely healthy for the competition, but it’s also served to change the complexion of the second round match-ups.
It’s added an air of real intrigue and unpredictability to tonight’s clash between the Sharks and Lions at Kings Park (7.10pm).
Last Saturday, the Sharks were caught cold by a fired-up Cheetahs side that feasted on the home team’s unexpectedly high error rate to clinch a thoroughly deserved victory.
Now, surely, it’s far too early in the competition to be talking about a must-win match, but the Sharks will not shy away from the fact that they simply cannot afford to lose a second successive home match.
And certainly not as challenging away fixtures against the Bulls, Stormers and Cheetahs lie ahead over the next three weeks.
But they will also be aware that there is no need to “press any panic buttons”, as coach Gary Gold put it this week, or look too far ahead.
A victory tonight would settle the nerves and set the Sharks’ campaign back on track, and it is for this reason the Lions can expect a massive backlash from a side abjectly disappointed by their first-round showing.
The Sharks, make no mistake, have a massive point to prove tonight, and that will revolve around producing a vastly more clinical, accurate and intelligent performance.
While there’s no such thing as a quick-fix, the coastal side will know that if they clean up their kicking game, cut out handling errors, and strike a better balance between where and when to attack, then there should be no repeat of last weekend’s surprise defeat.
The Lions, meanwhile, will come to Kings Park having placed a keen focus on their need to demonstrate far greater patience and accuracy in the red zone, with the team from Joburg having failed to capitalise on numerous opportunities last weekend.
It will also be very interesting to see whether one, the other, or both teams opt to tone down their attacking intent in favour of playing the percentages in order to record what is a much-needed win.
Gold said he expected it to be a titanic battle.
“I thought the Lions actually played better than us last weekend, and they’ll probably feel more aggrieved than us (not to get the win),” he conceded.
“However, I thought there were a lot of things we did well against the Cheetahs, and we’ve now looked at what we need to rectify, particularly around some of our decision-making.”
The Sharks’ director of rugby said they expect to face a big battle up front against an impressive Lions pack.
“Their physicality up front is a real threat.
“They dominated teams at scrum-time during the Currie Cup. They have a good maul, and that’s their go-to play, which we will have to take care of.
“Coupled with that, they have good, young exciting backs and once they knock the wall down up-front, they move the ball quite efficiently, so we will have to be sharp on defence.
“It’s a very tough task that awaits us, but it’s something I’m very comfortable we’re going to be ready for.”
Saturday Star