The Hollywoodbets Sharks XV welcome the Fidelity ADT Lions to Woodburn Stadium in Pietermaritzburg on Friday evening in their penultimate Carling Currie Cup clash of the pool stages looking to tick a number of boxes.
None less important than the other are a performance of note, giving the Maritzburg crowd plenty to cheer about and raising funds for local rugby player Jeremy Swan.
Head coach of the Carling Currie Cup team Mike Vowles is looking forward to another ‘home’ match in KZN, taking the game to the communities that support the team so passionately, this time at Woodburn Stadium.
“The team is really excited about the opportunity to play in Pietermaritzburg, the city has been a fantastic host to the Hollywoodbets Sharks in their Carling Currie Cup campaigns over the years,” he explained.
‘The supporters have always come out in their numbers and the group is really looking forward to being able to entertain the fans and to engage with them.
“We’re looking to put in a really strong performance after the disappointment of last week.”
With the pool stages entering the final push, the desire is to throw everything into this fortnight’s programme.
“We’re looking forward to it, it’s an exciting opportunity and on the back end of that, it’s obviously great to be able to support Jeremy Swan,” Vowles pointed out.
“As the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV, we’re all about community and we’re thrilled with the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, it’s significant and something the team will certainly play for.”
With two home games left to play, the team want to finish the competition strong, to play an exciting brand of rugby and make the Pietermaritzburg community proud.
“We’ve made a couple of changes where some guys have moved off the bench into the starting line-up, most notably we’ve got Deon Slabbert back from an injury he sustained in the All Black match, so he’ll bring some leadership into the group, and we’ve moved Rambo Kubheka and Simphiwe Ngobese to start after playing off the bench last week.
“There’s a bit of a shuffle in our loose-forwards due to injury, and we have a relatively unchanged backline with Janco Purchase coming in for Albie Bester at 12.
“We’ve had a good week and used it as an opportunity for some introspection and after the challenge of Kimberley, we’re looking to get our campaign back on a positive note.
“We’re targeting these last two games to finish strongly that hopefully gives us a shot at getting into the semis.
“It’s a big weekend for us with plenty to play for: the Pietermaritzburg crowd, a worthy cause as well as a campaign we want to finish strong in.”
