Tonight’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash between the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Edinburgh in the Scottish capital is an incredibly important one for both sides in the race to the eight.
For Hollywoodbets Sharks head coach John Plumtree, having arguably his strongest side available to him, team cohesion and gelling is going to be paramount.
“That’s going to be our biggest challenge, this team haven’t been together for a long time but we should be ok,” he explains. “Collectively, as a group, our challenge is to play well, get our game going and just get into a rhythm.
“It’s one thing having talent and experience, we have to have our game going.”
He acknowledges the threats that Edinburgh bring to this game, and recent form, recent opposition and home ground advantage all add to the challenge that lies ahead.
“We’re the third South African team they’re playing in a row, so they would have done a lot of homework around the South African sides, they’re two from two and looking to be three from three.
“Playing at home, they’re a very tough side, their pack is full of internationals and the backs are loaded with flair, so they’re a well-balanced team and very hard to beat at home.
:We know what a massive challenge we have ahead of us, we know winning any VURC game away from home is challenging, especially at this time of the campaign when everyone is fighting for points and everyone has their own goals and certainly winning your home games is really important.
“Edinburgh have found form so they have some rhythm in their game, they’re tough and they’ll take ages to break down – if we do break them down.”
While Edinburgh’s injury list reads like something of a who’s-who in Scottish (and other international) rugby, the Hollywoodbets Sharks welcome back their own who’s-who of Springbok rugby for this huge clash.
Edinburgh, fresh off a 34-28 quarter-final victory over the Vodacom Bulls that has set them up for a home semi-final against Bath in the EPCR Challenge Cup, come into this game full of confidence, but lacking in firepower, given the loss of internationals that include Duhan van der Merwe (48 caps), Matt Scott (40 caps), Mark Bennett (29 caps), Luke Crosbie (12 caps), Ben Vellacott (1 cap), Marshall Sykes (2 caps) and Jamie Hodgson (5 caps), alongside Argentinean international Emiliano Boffelli (53 caps) and Paul Hill of England (6 caps).
Meanwhile, the inclusion of Springboks Eben Etzebeth, Grant Williams, Lukhanyo Am and Aphelele Fassi in the matchday 22 will have buoyed confidence amongst their Hollywoodbets Sharks team-mates.
Having Aphelele Fassi back on the field is a huge plus for the team, not only for his composure and ability, but also for the way he successfully negotiates the aerial contest.
“Certainly, competing in the air in the modern game has become a massive part of it. We have been struggling in that department for the last five or six weeks, so it’s good to have Fassi back. He’s dangerous in that part of the game, if they kick poorly on him, he’s got a fantastic way of finding space with his running game, and he has a big left foot as well which is handy.
“He’s done a lot of hard work around his rehab and I know he’s raring to go.”
Another test is the artificial turf they will be playing on, which presents its own set of challenges.
“We’re playing on a 5G pitch and there are different elements to that, although we trained on one and that was good,” Plumtree explains. “The games do look faster on this pitch, from breakdown it appears to be quicker, the bounce of the ball is different as well, so there might be a slightly different mindset around your kicking.
“We’ve played on them, it’s certainly not foreign to us, but not something we do all the time. It hasn’t been a big focus for us, but we know there are parts to our game that we need to nail playing on a pitch like this.
“This is a really big task for us, we’re going to have to play very well but we are looking forward to it.”