The Hollywoodbets Sharks return to Vodacom United Rugby Championship action after a five week break in their tournament commitments as they welcome the DHL Stormers to Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday afternoon.
Sharks Fest is coming to Durban and the Hollywoodbet Sharks and Red Bull are bringing you Summer Vibes at the DJ Stage where tickets start from just R50.
But not only are we in for a huge party, but there’s the matter of a rugby match to take care of first.
Hollywoodbets Sharks head coach John Plumtree is back from a trip home to New Zealand as the team tackle on their coastal rivals.
“It was lovely seeing my family, my wife and boys, after six months away from home,” he admitted. “I bought my son his first car and had heaps of chores to do around the house!”
The team will be named later in the week, but Plumtree hinted that not all the Boks will be available for this match, including inspirational lock Eben Etzebeth.
“There are some Springboks being rested and some that are injured, but some are playing. It’s not ideal, but we understand the importance of giving them a break, these boys have a long season.”
After coming close in the away leg match against the Stormers in Cape Town, losing by just one point, Plumtree outlined where the game will be won and lost.
“The set-piece battle is massive against the Stormers and an area of our game we’ve been working really hard on and showing some good signs of improvement. You can’t afford to not win your own ball, so that’s probably been our big focus.
“They also bring a lot of heat in terms of their line speed defensively, so you have to have a good strategy around how you want to play against them, while they also have a lot of dynamic attacking players so we have to be really good defensively.
“It needs to be a big team performance, we were pretty good in that last game at times, but there were elements of our game that lets us down. We were leading at 71 minutes before they went ahead a couple of minutes later and that’s not good enough.
“We know what to expect and we’re working hard on our game to cope with that they have.”
At this stage of the competition, the Hollywoodbets Sharks have battled but there is a positive sense that they are on the right track and there is no complacency or a feeling of simply giving up.
“It’s not the ideal position we would have liked to be in,” admitted captain Lukhanyo Am.
“The intention doesn’t change, we’ll continue to work hard and we will go out there and do our best. We want to improve, we are showing signs of improvement and there are areas we are getting stronger.
“Our mindset remains to win every game we play, try get the points and climb up the ladder.”
Saturday’s kick-off is scheduled for 5.05pm.