RUGBY NEWS - The time for talking about a game that will attract fans back to Kings Park is over for a Cell C Sharks franchise that has internalised and acted on the lessons drummed out by Western Province in the domestic final last October.
It’s never a good idea to take pre-season warm-up matches too seriously. Nonetheless, the Sharks have put some substance in clashes with the Bulls in Polokwane and Racing 92 in Hong Kong to the bones that they worked on during an off-season where coach Robert du Preez made some fundamental changes.
Du Preez might have irritated his bosses a little with his claim before last year’s Currie Cup decider that too much emphasis was being placed in South Africa on aping the more attacking style of the successful New Zealand teams. Du Preez said the only rugby he wanted his team to play was winning rugby and it didn’t matter how ugly it might be. That didn't really fit in with the publicised promise to fans to play crowd-pleasing rugby.
Du Preez's words were of course uttered after a league phase of the season where the Sharks had topped the log thanks to the hard work of a pack that afforded them the dominance they required in order to successfully execute a percentage game plan. But it all went pear-shaped when the pack was fronted and dominated by WP in the final. It was clear there was no Plan B for the Sharks and no ability to attack their opponents with scraps of possession. WP coach John Dobson confirmed after that game that once his team got ahead they were content to just kick onto the Sharks as they knew the Durbanites didn't have the attacking wherewithal to hurt them.
