The role of local conditions has been a big point of discussion as the northern and southern hemisphere sides enjoy polar opposite weather and when traveling to Europe in winter or South Africa in summer, there’s a distinct understanding of local conditions for the home teams.
“It’s absolutely vital to use the conditions to your advantage, we’ve been training in this heat for the last couple of weeks and we’ve seen how the change in climate for the guys who played Connacht has affected them, they’re really struggling,” explains Cell C Sharks prop Thomas du Toit.
“So the travel is real and very difficult, it’s tough for the touring side, and even for us, we’ve trained and played in these conditions and we’ll definitely try to use that to our advantage.”
Added to the Cell C Sharks’ advantage is the fact that they have all their Springboks back after earning a break last weekend. Fitness is one thing, match fitness another, but du Toit believes there’s no issue with rustiness for himself and those of his team-mates who didn’t travel to Ireland for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with Connacht.
“It was the perfect opportunity to reward those who have trained well, as well as given a rest to some of the players,” he explains. “We know with the travel schedule, it is very difficult to play a big game on the road and another massive one a week later here in Durban against Bordeaux.
“I don’t think you lose a lot of match fitness in a week. In my experience you don’t really lose anything after one week, maybe two or three weeks at a time. The best case scenario is to play every game and you’ll be as match fit as you possibly can be, but that won’t do your body many favours.
“A physical break only isn’t what’s important, but a mental break as well. If you take the amount of minutes each guy has played week in and week out, that’s 1200 to 1400 minutes in a season. So a mental break is just as necessary as a physical one.”
Having played Bordeaux in France in the first leg, this home match has the added advantage of knowing the opposition more intimately than video analysis. Home games in France are characterised by passionate support that drives their teams and du Toit admits the Hollywoodbets Kings Park faithful can bring similar energy to the Cell C Sharks.
“The typical things we know about the French are true: they’re big boys, they’re physical and they get the crowd behind them that really lifts them up and gives them energy. It’s something we took from that game. It’s important that we too take confidence from playing at home, we take pride playing here and we hope to make our stadium a fortress.”
As ‘big boys’, the French view the scrum as an important sector of the game, but the South African mentality has also had its focus on the set-piece and this is an ear of the game both sides will look for dominance.
“We haven’t changed anything for this game, the scrum is set in stone – to just get better at it – and we won’t change much from our general plan which is to be dominant.”
With an unbeaten record in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup competition, the Cell C Sharks are well-positioned for a place in the knock-outs.
“The pressure is always on to get the job done and there is a certain expectation that needs to be met. For those of us that were rested, it’s all good and well to get a break after performing well but then returning and not performing, there’s no point in that.
“There is an expectation on us, but we all realise that.”