Tonight’s double-header action, a friendly clash with Saracens before the final Carling Currie Cup pool game against the Airlink Pumas, represent opportunities and challenges.
With the available squad stretched thin – the juniors involved in the SA Rugby Under 19 and Under 21 Cups against their Free State counterparts later today , and a number of Springboks away on national duty in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship -Hollywoodbets Sharks head coach John Plumtree and Carling Currie Cup head coach JP Pietersen have had to juggle resources for the two games.
“The Saracens game is a mixture of some younger players, we’ve had to pull a few players in from elsewhere to make up the numbers because we have the Under 19s and 21s playing in Bloemfontein,” Plumtree confirmed.
“So there have been some challenges in that regard getting the two groups together, but we’ve managed.
“Some players will sit on the bench for the Saracens game and then sit on the bench for the Carling Currie Cup game against the Airlink Pumas, so it’s a bit old school for us.
“Hopefully we’ll be happy with how the two games go.”
Both teams – against Saracens and the Airlink Pumas – have been selected to be as competitive as possible, while blending youth and experience.
“We’ve put Vodacom United Rugby Championship players into both teams, they’re pre-season games for us, we need the hit-outs,” said Plumtree.
“It’s not so much around results tonight as getting contact work in that our players need before they start a busy VURC season.”
The preparations for the VURC which kicks off in three weeks see tonight’s game kicking off contact before taking a squad of 28 to play against the DHL Stormers in George next Friday.
Plumtree also explained the value of the friendly match against Saracens. It’s more than just playing rugby, it’s about cementing relationships, sharing ideas and building strong squads.
“We had a nice week with Saracens, a golf day with a lot of players, management and coaches that was great. It’s nice for us to connect with them again, to talk about some of the challenges we have at different stages of the year and for them too, so a lot of collaboration between the two clubs.
“It was good to build relationships, the owners of the two clubs, Marco Masotti for The Sharks and Saracens’ Dominic Silvester, are close friends as well.”