The Hollywoodbets Sharks welcome Munster Rugby to Hollywoodbets Kings Park in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarter-final match today, one of two quarters hosted by South African teams.
Bolstered by three returning players, the Durban side also enjoy home ground advantage, and having had a good run of form and a productive week of training, are feeling confident going into this knock-out clash with the former champions.
“Preparations have gone well,” admitted head coach John Plumtree, “and it was pleasing that Jordan Hendrikse and Lukhanyo Am have made it back from injury, we also welcomed back Siya Kolisi, although Grant Williams tried but couldn’t get fit for this game, that neck of his is an ongoing issue.
“There was plenty of intensity in our sessions as you expect with a big game like this.”
The three above-mentioned returning Boks link up with numerous other national players in the team, something not always possible, as Plumtree has had to juggle player welfare with injuries throughout the campaign.
“We were fortunate with fitness and injuries at this stage, I’ve wanted to get continuity in selection from quite a way out and get the team going. We sort of had that over the last few weeks, aside from a few little disruptions, so it was a little bit disjointed.
“But we didn’t really let that bother us too much; we had a good tour to put pressure on Glasgow, and then finished well at home against the two Welsh teams.
“So we achieved that goal which I am very proud of. It might not have been the prettiest rugby to watch, but it was built around a lot of other factors crucial to us and the conditions we were playing in. We’re right where we need to be and looking forward to what lies ahead.”
Despite all the setbacks and challenges the Hollywoodbets Sharks have suffered over the course of the competition, their style of winning rugby has seen them enjoy their best finish ever, which shows that growth and development has never stopped.
Knock-out matches are all about do-or-die, whether the Hollywoodbets Sharks win by one point or 20 doesn’t matter, winning is all that matters.
“Without being horrible, this match isn’t about entertaining, it’s about winning a game of rugby, and keep progressing in this tournament,” Plumtree said. “We need to get the job done however it takes.
“We’ve set the team some goals around what we want to achieve, but none of them is around scoring 20 or 30 points.”
For Plumtree, the style of play in Durban is dictated to a large degree by the weather and the wet ball, which means attacking out wide generally doesn’t happen and pressure that comes to bear tends to influence the run of play.
When Ospreys, Scarlets and Leinster all played in Durban, they scored a combined 23 points (less than 8 on average), which shows how difficult it is to play attacking rugby in the conditions.
“It’s not easy for anyone to play here,” said Plumtree. “Playing at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, defences have been dominating, the kicking game is around who can win that battle, so it’s a different type of contest here where you’re relying on dominating different aspects of the game, whatever the conditions are.
“We strive to win this game however we get across the line. We want our set-piece to go well, we want our defence to function and we’d like to create some opportunities and we’d like to finish them.
“Whatever we dish up, we want to be as accurate as possible.”