A Much-Needed Break
12/31/2024 11:37 AM
Following the Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby match with the DHL Stormers, the Hollywoodbets Sharks go into a two week break before their Investec Champions Cup commitments.
Toulouse will visit Hollywoodbets Kings Park for the third pool fixture on Saturday 11 January and the Durban side will be hoping to have a number of players available for that match after assessing their injured players in the comping fortnight.
Bongi Mbonambi is expected to return for the game but needs x-ray confirmation on a hand injury before being fit to play, while Eben Etzebeth is also likely to return, but must still pass a swade test to be cleared of his concussion symptoms. Vincent Tshituka and James Venter will undertake fitness tests later this week to assess their respective recoveries, while Lukhanyo Am must still undergo a functional test and x-ray to determine if his injury has healed significantly.
Injuries from the Stormers match saw all three of Aphelele Fassi (ankle), Emile van Heerden (knee) and Andre Esterhuizen (also knee) leave the field injured. All three will undergo further scans and seek specialist medical advice to ascertain their timelines for return to play. Esterhuizen is likely to be out for 4-6 weeks, but this must still be confirmed by the specialist.
"It wasn't a great day at the office on the injury front," said Hollywoodbets Sharks head coach John Plumtree after the match.
"We needed to hang on to win that game, but we lacked a few leaders, they were off the field. It got a bit chaotic in the end with all the injuries, Jurenzo was cramping, we'd lost Andre, Fassi had gone off. But we did the best we could under the circumstances. Injuries seem to be haunting us at the moment and they're not one or two weeks, but six to eight weeks. It's certainly very stressful for the team."
Looking at the game, Plumtree lamented times in the game when things didn't go their way, contributions from both sides.
"There were some big moments in the game that we didn't control well, we should never have conceded a try like that at the end.
"It was also a big moment when Ethan Hooker got yellow carded before half-time and then after half-time we didn't get a lot of ball and the Stormers off-loading game and then playing with a lot of freedom.
"I thought our defence was amazing in that period, their willingness to work hard, to scramble, I thought the boys were really brave in that space.
"But we really didn't get enough ball in the second half, we went past five phases once and managed to score, we opened the Stormers up a couple of times but weren't clinical enough.
"But I was really proud of them."
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