The Hollywoodbets Sharks’ Springbok centre Andre Esterhuizen has told the Durban rugby media that he feels the team might be one click away from rediscovering their full attacking Mojo but if you want to take a bet on it rather look at Loftus as the place that will happen.
Of course, to get to the dry field in Pretoria in what would be their first Vodacom United Rugby Championship semifinal, the Sharks have to beat the 2023 champions Munster first - and that won’t be an easy task, as explained on Tuesday by skipper Eben Etzebeth.
“We all know how tough Munster can be in playoff games and two years ago I think they played three away playoff games to win the trophy,” said Etzebeth.
Indeed, and the Irish team’s win in the final in Cape Town was played on a damp day on a DHL Stadium field that was at that point slippery and in need of repair.
There’s nothing wrong with the Kings Park field, but while Durban in May is a wonderful place to play rugby in dry, afternoon conditions, when games are played after dark you might as well be trapped back in the humidity of the summer months that turn just about every fixture into a wet weather game.
CRITICS MAY UNDERESTIMATE DEBILITATING IMPACT OF DEW
That aspect of the Sharks’ recent struggles to get their attacking game going may be underestimated by some critics, but the measure of how hard it was to get attack going with the dew factor that impacted their final two league games against the Ospreys and the Scarlets comes by way of how much their opponents have also struggled to be cohesive on attack.
Both those two Welsh teams like to get their hands on the ball and to move it around on attack, but like their opponents they were at ground zero from an attacking viewpoint for most of the last 160 minutes of the Sharks’ regular season.
And with a 6:30pm kickoff to Saturday’s first playoff game, it would be reasonable to expect the same debilitating conditions.
However, while the Sharks said they were surprised by the wet ball in that first game against the Ospreys, experiencing it for a second time will have given them a greater idea of what to expect and tactical kicking, particularly the use of contestable kicks, is likely to be high on the agenda on Saturday evening.
And while it might not be pretty, the confidence attained in the close wins scored overseas against Edinburgh and Ulster before the trip back for those last league games, coupled with what Esterhuizen sees as a steady building of their attacking game when it is on to do so, should help the Sharks be in the right space to win a tight playoff game.
WINNING BREEDS CONFIDENCE
As Esterhuizen reminded us, winning also breeds confidence, and becomes a habit.
“We have a lot of confidence going into this game with four good wins in a row,” said the influential centre.
“We have not played our best rugby, but it feels good to know that we can grind out wins if needed, especially at a wet Kings Park. It doesn’t look wet, but as soon the dew sets in, the ball becomes difficult to handle.
“Durban conditions are tough. Early in the year it’s the humidity, and in winter, the hot days cool down quickly to create heavy dew. It’s like the field has been sprayed before kick-off.”
The 31-year-old, who returned to Durban at the start of the season after several years at the London club Harlequins, believes the team is close to finally hitting their straps on attack like they were building to do when they swept aside Glasgow Warriors and Munster in successive weeks back in October.
“We never want to grind games out, we want to win them comfortably like we know we can. We are getting better week by week, so hopefully we can hit our straps against Munster.
But if it means we have to grind out a win, we will do it. We know how to do that, but we feel we are building something on attack and are improving. We are confident because every week we win while knowing we can be better.”
The probable return to the fray of attacking dynamos Lukhanyo Am and Grant Williams could make a difference in the Munster game, but if the Sharks do win the quarterfinal the smart money should be on that win coming in the manner that the wins have come over the past month.
Get through that and get to Loftus, where the weather is almost always perfect for running rugby at this time of the year, and that could be when that final click in the wheel leads to the explosive attacking game that the names on the team sheet suggest the Durbanites are capable of.
As Esterhuizen hints, it has to be a positive that you still finish third on the log playing below the level you feel you are capable of. It’s why the Sharks going all the way to the trophy is not the fanciful suggestion some might see it as. The Sharks team for the quarterfinal will be announced on Friday.
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