HOOKER Eduan Swart will share duties with Fez Mbatha in the absence of Springbok Bongi Mbonambi against the Stormers at Kings Park on Saturday. Sharks coach JP Pietersen says that from the moment the players got into the change room after beating the Stormers last week, the discussion has been about doing the double on their coastal rivals. The Sharks shocked the log-leading Capetonians 30-19, but they won’t have the element of surprise up their sleeve for the rematch at Kings Park on Saturday, 5pm kick-off.
“We spoke about it straight after the game. I challenged the guys to repeat the performance in Durban,” Pietersen said. “I told them, ‘You’re only as good as your last game.’ On Monday, we discussed it again and made ‘doubling up’ the theme of the week.
Having won last week, there is the question of whether the Sharks will be feeling more pressure to win now that they are back at home. “No, we don’t see it like that,” said Pietersen. “If you look at the log, we are eleventh, and they are in second place.
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We need to win every URC game to give ourselves a shot at the playoffs. “We are desperate for a win, and we know we have to perform. The Stormers have lost only one game; they are a very good side, and we have to take our game up a level if we are to win,” the coach added.
“It’s a clean slate on Saturday, and the only difference is we’re playing at home, and they’re playing away. The big question is, can we double it up?” While the Sharks obviously got many things right last week at the Cape Town Stadium, Pietersen said there was one area in particular where his players were poor. “The penalty count against us was too high,” he said.
“We can definitely improve our discipline. We gave away too many penalties. We could have controlled that better.
We gave away some soft penalties that gave them entries into our 22. It is one of the key things we spoke about this week.” With the Durban humidity certain to curtail adventurous play from both sides, Pietersen said the tight phases will play a major role in determining the match outcome. “The Stormers pride themselves on set-piece, scrums and mauls, and that’s why hooker Fez Mbatha is back in the team,” Pietersen said.
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