With four rounds of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship (VURC) remaining, the Hollywoodbets Sharks continue the fight for a top four finish and both the luxury and the honour of hosting a quarter-final when the competition reaches that stage at the end of May.
After the conclusion of round 14, having hosted Leinster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, the Hollywoodbets Sharks enjoy a six-point buffer over Munster as they look ahead to week 15 in fourth place on the overall log.
There’s a two-week break in the VURC to accommodate the EPCR Challenge Cup and Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 and quarter-finals in the respective tournaments which means the Hollywoodbets Sharks are back in action again on Friday 18 April as they head overseas for the first of two away assignments.
They have the good fortune of hosting the final two rounds at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in May, where they will be focusing on maintaining the aura of their home ground and continuing to make it a place opposition teams fear and where they come unstuck.
The trip to Scotland next week and then Ireland is likely to include all the familiar faces, with the possibility of welcoming back a big name or two following a fortnight’s bye.
This two-week break gives the coaching staff the opportunity to both rest the stalwarts and give youngsters an opportunity to perform in the pressure cooker of high profile rugby, while the medical staff work diligently to get injured players back to full fitness and ready to play their role in the closing stages of the tournament.
First up is Edinburgh Rugby, currently coached by former Hollywoodbets Sharks coach Sean Everitt, but first, the Scottish side will have to negotiate a tricky fixture against the Vodacom Bulls this weekend as they entertain the South Africans in their EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final.
Fans of South African born Duhan van der Merwe will have to wait until May for the wing’s ankle injury to heal as he forms part of a 12-man injury list currently plaguing Edinburgh.
A 38-5 victory over the Dragons in Round 14 sent them into the top 8 and possible qualification for the knock-out rounds and that underpins their ambitions, which will no doubt include a result against the touring Durban side.
A week later, the Hollywoodbets Sharks will be in round 16 action when they face up to Ulster who this past weekend were knocked out of the Investec Champions Cup when they lost to Union Bordeaux-Begles, going down 31-43 in Bordeaux.
Ulster currently occupy sixth spot on the log following their round 14 victory over the DHL Stormers (38-34 ) in their previous VURC fixture, their five-pointer in that match lifting them to sixth spot on the log, eight points adrift of the Hollywoodbets Sharks on 45.
The Irish side have won five of their eight home games and will look to close out the run of home games on a high when they host the Hollywoodbets Sharks, who themselves will want to finish their two week tour on a positive note before returning to Durban to close out their pool commitments with two home games and continue the fight to finish as high up on the table as possible.
An exciting four weeks of VURC rugby await.
