Tonight’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash offers a strengthened Hollywoodbets Sharks team the opportunity to close out their three match overseas tour on a high.
For head coach John Plumtree, it’s been a productive training week ahead of the big game. Throw in four returning Springboks, and there is plenty to be enthusiastic about.
“We have had a really good week of preparation, we had the benefit of a long week after playing on Friday night last week, we had a few of the Springbok boys joining us and they brought some lovely energy to the group,” he explained ahead of the match against the reigning champions.
Leinster lamented a lack of physical intent in their two loses against the DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls, and this week come up against a third South African team, knowing that nothing changes.
“If they were disappointed with that aspect of their game, South Africa is the wrong country not to bring it to, that’s a big part of the game if you want to dominate collisions and your set-piece to function.
“We’re expecting extra physicality from them after two early losses and now playing their first home game. That will all add a bit of fuel to the fire.
“We face a tough task playing a strong Leinster team, coming off a couple of losses just adds another flavour to this fixture.”
The addition of Springbok wings Ethan Hooker and Makazole Mapimpi is a fortuitous boost for the Hollywoodbets Sharks, particularly with their accomplished aerial skills, certainly an area they will be tested in this game.
“It’s massively important having them back,” Plumtree acknowledged.
“The modern game isn’t just around running with the ball any more or the set-piece dominance, the kicking game is becoming another set-piece and often the team that wins that battle wins the game because defences are unstructured and you can create a lot of danger on attack when you win that contestable game.
“So having Hooks and Mapimps back is good, and Edwill van der Merwe is also good in the air, so we’re happy with that combination.
“It’s going to be a real contest.”
Another contest will be at scrum-time, where the Hollywoodbets Sharks are finding real form and dominance. The new front row of Simphiwe Matanzima, Fez Mbatha and Ruan Dreyer is really stepping up, while Springboks Bongi Mbonambi and Vincent Koch will look to add fire off the bench.
“The scrum was outstanding last week, I’ve been really impressed with Simphiwe Matanzima, he’s come to us with a great attitude and I really think he could become a Springbok. It’s still early days, he has a fair bit of work to do yet, but with him and Ox on the loosehead side, we have a pretty formidable pairing.”
Another area of focus is at flyhalf, where Jean Smith continues in his role as starting flyhalf, while Siya Masuku has returned from injury and provides cover off the bench.
“I was pretty happy with the way Jean played against the Dragons in pretty terrible conditions and I want to see how he goes with a little bit more experience around him now and see how he can run our game under a bit more pressure this week.
“Siya Masuku has just come back from injury and he’ll play a role off the bench, but I wanted him to settle and have a good training week, without the pressure of starting.”
Tonight’s match kicks off at 6.30pm.