Durban - The Sharks are not going to be hoodwinked into believing that the Leinster team they will face at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday is inferior simply because they have left behind some star players, and then the comments made by their captain, Rhys Ruddock, on arrival in Durban reinforces how tough this encounter is going to be.
Ruddock, capped 27 times for Ireland, will lead a Leinster side that has nine other players who have played their country and two of them are British and Irish Lions.
It is this side of Ruddock’s that is largely responsible for Leinster topping the United Rugby Championship by ten points from Ulster because their current Irish stars have missed a swathe of fixtures because of Six Nations duty.
Blindside flanker Ruddock said that there were zero complacencies in his team because when they were here in 2017, they got a smack from the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein a week after they had smashed the Southern Kings by 30 points in Port Elizabeth.
Leinster got the shock of their lives when they lost 38-19 to the Free Staters and Ruddock says they have not forgotten that “wake-up call” now they are back on African soil.
“I played both games and it was really tough, and one of the lessons from playing those teams was that playing them home and away was completely different,” the 31-year-old said.
“It was also definitely a lesson on building connection and using time wisely and building cohesion off the field. Not getting drawn into the distractions of being on the road is something we learned from the Cheetahs game especially.
“As we experienced with the Cheetahs game, we’re wary of letting the game get away from us because we’ve seen how the scores can add up in SA,” Ruddock added.
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Last week, Leinster routed their countrymen Connacht 56-20 in the European Champions Cup but Ruddock says it will be a different ball game in Durban.
“Connacht had a very good attack, one of the best but the Sharks will present different challenges and we need to make the adjustments. They have an unbelievably strong set-piece, as well as a strong maul and kicking game.
“We have been looking at the Sharks’ match tapes… they’re very physical with that front row of Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Thomas du Toit,” Ruddock warned.
“But the conditions have more of our attention at the moment. The Sharks play into those conditions, with their kicking game and especially at the contact point.
“It rained when we landed (in Durban), and then it was sunny and looks like it could be raining again at the weekend, but we’re at least well acclimatised for that. With humidity, though, the environment could be a bit alien to us.”
The Sharks go into the match with momentum, having lost just one of their last seven URC matches. Their only previous fixture against an Irish province was their 17- 42 defeat to Munster in Limerick on 25 September, way back at the beginning of the competition.
Leinster’s record is even better — they have lost just once in any competition since the end of January, a close 13-18 defeat to Irish rivals Ulster in the URC on 12 March.
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