Preview: Hollywoodbets Sharks vs Bordeaux Bègles
Today at 02:50 AM
The Hollywoodbets Sharks face one of their biggest challenges of the Investec Champions Cup when they take on Top 14 front-runners Bordeaux in their final pool match on Sunday.
Head coach John Plumtree acknowledges just what his team is up against, and it's not just the opposition.
Speaking ahead of the game from the team's base in France, he explains: "It's been a pretty good week, we took our time in preparation after the travel, but there have been a couple of challenges around the fitness of a couple of boys.
"We're here to play the top team in France, we know it's a massive challenge."
Injuries in recent weeks have been a major setback and this week is no different as far as losing players goes.
"Vincent has a re-occurrence of his shoulder injury, nothing serious, but I'm hesitant to throw him into the mix right now and James Venter was declared fit in Durban, but this week showed up a tear in his pec that hasn't quite healed, so he's heading home before he's fired a shot which is a little disappointing. So it has been a bit disruptive."
With Jordan Hendrikse not making the trip, Siya Masuku has been entrusted with the flyhalf role.
"With all the disruptions we've had to our backline, most of our big players are out, it's a good opportunity for Siya and he's raring to go," Plumtree explains. "He's had a good couple of days, he probably feels that he has a point to prove and it's up to the rest of us to make sure that we give him plenty of options.
"The pack is going to have to generate forward momentum so he can play his natural game. I'd like to see him do the basics and communicate well with the team and keep us on the front foot as much as he can. He's looking forward to it."
Turning his attention to Bordeaux, Plumtree feels that given their attacking threat, effective defence is going to be a huge part of the game.
"We were pretty happy with aspects of our defence against Toulouse last week, we scrambled pretty well on their line-breaks. We kept them down to 20 points, with them averaging 50 points a game before that.
"Joey Mongalo has done a good job in that space, although this week we have limited preparation because of the travel, but we're used to that.
"This week we're playing a side with similar characteristics to Toulouse, especially with transition rugby, which is turn-over ball. Any opportunity from loose ball or kicks, they're dangerous, so any time our defence is unstructured, they're a really dangerous side."
The Hollywoodbets Sharks coach concedes that it's not just on attack that Bordeaux are so dangerous, they have multiple threats.
"They have a big pack and they'll hammer away at the gainline. This team is the top side in France at the moment, so it doesn't get easier playing Toulouse and Bordeaux on successive weekends, especially the intimidating environment they've created for home games.
"It's going to be a big test for us."
Given all the setbacks, this is a Hollywoodbets Sharks team that fights to the death. Despite every challenge that has been thrown their way, they have never rolled over and given up.
"The challenging thing for me has been the amount of injury disruptions over the last three or four weeks. That's when it becomes really difficult for a coach, but we, as a team, pride ourselves around being adaptable. One guy goes down and another steps up and that's what I've been really proud about with this team.
"We've gone through a fair bit of adversity in the last few weeks, lots of injuries, we lost a game to the Stormers that we could have won, we battled away against a really good French team [Toulouse] and we never gave up which is really important to me.
"As long as we have that attitude on Sunday, I'll be happy."
The post Preview: Hollywoodbets Sharks vs Bordeaux Bègles appeared first on The Sharks Durban.
