Tonight’s Carling Currie Cup clash at Hollywoodbets Kings Park against the Vodacom Bulls XV is a fitting finale to the pool stages for the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV and an opportunity to secure a place in the semi-finals.
Having lost every game in the campaign, the Vodacom Bulls union is nevertheless a proud one and will look to finish their season with a flourish. This is not a game the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV will be taking lightly.
“They are a proud union, they will come down to Durban to compete and to win, the chat they’ll have in the changeroom will be about finishing strong and closing out a disappointing season with a good performance,” explained head coach Mike Vowles.
“We expect a really spirited performance from them.”
Be that as it may, the Durban side were outstanding last week and will want to build from that performance, taking continuity into this match and beyond.
“We haven’t spoken much about them and where they’re at, we’ve focused on ourselves and in putting in a good performance that could be our last home game,” he added.
“We want to make sure we build on the positives of a good performance last week.”
In this final round, there is great interest around jockeying for positions, with numerous permutations regarding where the various teams end the pool stages ahead of the semi-finals.
With that in mind, a coach could put pressure on his team to succeed, or motivate them to focus on their performance – allowing the natural order of things to follow. And what better arena that at their home, Hollywoodbets Kings Park?
“There have been two focus points for us this week: one has been that this is an opportunity to play at home at our stadium, it’s significant playing at Hollywoodbets Kings Park and that’s probably the biggest motivating factor; the other is around the Carling Currie Cup and the permutations.
“We haven’t really focused on that, we understand that first of all, we have to win, that’s where the measure is. We want to put in a really good performance that allows us to win the game and if possible get a bonus point and give ourselves the best possible opportunity to get into the play-offs. But winning is the first step in the process.”
Winning takes getting things right, and on that path, Vowles believes his team is in the right space which bodes well for this match.
“I think that last week’s performance was our best 80 minutes of rugby in the competition, we showed some real bravery and flair on our attack where we moved the ball around and got a good flow to our attacking game which we want to build on.
“I thought there was an unbelievable amount of character shown in our defensive effort, so that has to be at the foundation of what we do.”
As a balanced, all-round performance, Vowes believes it was a massive step forward in the right direction and he would like to see continued growth.
“We’ve taken a huge amount of confidence out of our performance and the challenge is to improve, to not just be satisfied.
“We have another opportunity to put an even better performance in, the team feels like we’ve found our groove and we’re in a really good space.”
