Durban - The Sharks have named a very strong side to play the Lions in a Currie Cup match Johannesburg on Saturday and at first glance, it could easily be their side featuring in the United Rugby Championship.
The latter team, of course, is winging its way to Italy where they will play Benetton in a week’s time, so this powerful side to play a battling Lions team is evidence of the growing quality in depth at the Shark Tank.
Some of the players on duty at Emirates Airline Park who have played in the URC are fullback Yaw Penxe, flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain, scrumhalf Cameron Wright, centre Jeremy Ward, wings Werner Kok and Marnus Potgieter, and loose forwards James Venter — who captain the side —, Thembelani Bholi and Cemilpilo Gumede.
The Sharks have won both their Currie Cup games thus far, beating Griquas and Western Province in Durban while the Lions lost 48-36 to Western Province in the opening round before suffering a 50-9 defeat to the Pumas in their second match and with just one log point, prop up the Currie Cup table in seventh position.
💥Team Release💥
— The Sharks (@SharksRugby) February 18, 2022
Your Cell C Sharks team to take on the Sigma Lions tomorrow night!
Full team release: https://t.co/fFmq4OdYcr#OurSharksForever #CarlingCurrieCup #LIOvSHA pic.twitter.com/MlYU0jgZaZ
On that evidence and looking at the classy Sharks team, you would think there can be only one winner of this match.
And the Sharks are well coached by former Bok prop Etienne Fynn who says the competition for places in the URC team is keeping all the players in the greater Sharks squad honest.
Currie Cup coach Fynn says that the reward head coach Sean Everitt has already given for stellar Curie Cup performances makes his job of motivating his players easy.
“Sean saw Marius Louw play two very good Currie Cup games and he was called up to the URC team; Curwin Bosch was excellent in our last game against Western Province and was called up, and Sikhumbuzo Notshe had an amazing comeback game from long-term injury and was immediately called up,” Fynn said.
“So there is an understanding in the set-up that the opportunity is there if you perform ... Likewise, if you don’t perform, there are guys waiting in the wings who are hungry,” the former Bok prop added.
“Ultimately, sport is about performance, and if you perform you get the rewards.”
With the Sharks looking to continue their campaign unbeaten, Fynn says the recipe for success is fairly simple.
“As always, you’re looking for improvement in the areas that you lacked a little in the previous game and building on those areas where you were strong,” he explains.
“It’s like a trifle, if you put too many ingredients in it, it becomes a mess, so for us, it’s about keeping it as simple as possible and getting better and better in the execution of what you know works.”
A bittersweet problem for Fynn is that there are long breaks between the matches in the Currie Cup.
“From a player welfare perspective it is good as they have time to recover from aches and pains, but ideally you would like to play week in week out instead of every ten days to two weeks, so there are pros and cons to it,” he said.
As for the Lions, they are in disarray with both their Currie Cup and URC teams faltering. The problem for the Sharks on Saturday is that at some point there has to be backlash from the proud Lions.
“They will attack us,” Fynn said. “I am sure they will move the ball, that has been their DNA for the last five to eight years and they are not going to change. They have also picked some experienced players from their URC squad in the Tshituka brothers — Emmanuel and Vincent — and some exciting backs in Divan Rossouw, Quan Horn and Boldwinl Hansen.”
Sharks Team
15 Yaw Penxe 14 Werner Kok 13 Jeremy Ward 12 Murray Koster 11 Marnus Potgieter 10 Boeta Chamberlain 9 Cameron Wright 8 Celimpilo Gumede 7 Thembelani Bholi 6 James Venter (capt) 5 Reniel Hugo 4 Le Roux Roets 3 Khutha Mchunu 2 Fez Mbatha 1 Khwezi Mona.
Substitutes: Dan Jooste, Dian Bleuler, Wiehahn Herbst, Emile van Heerden, OJ Noa, Sanele Nohamba, Inny Radebe, Bradley Davids