Despite a flurry of games coming their way, the Sharks will be giving their all against the Lions in the Currie Cup final at Ellis Park on Saturday.
This is the sentiment held by Sharks coach John Plumtree.
Both the Lions and the Sharks will be involved in the United Rugby Championship (URC) from next week, as the fixture schedule including the Currie Cup has been brought into question.
Kick-off in Johannesburg is at 4pm.
Prestige of the Currie Cup
The first round of fixtures involving the four SA teams scheduled for this weekend were postponed due to the Currie Cup overlapping.
All that will mean nothing when the players step on the field, as the history and prestige of the Currie Cup will be all that matters.
“It will mean a lot to win the Currie Cup. I’ll probably be more excited for the boys,” said Plumtree.
“We’ve had two sets of coaches in the Currie Cup and more than 40 players, so there’s been a lot of people who have been involved in this campaign and a lot of management and players not going up to watch.”
Plumtree conceded that there will be a lot of pressure on the Sharks to do well in the URC, but that will be a problem for another day.
“But you live in the moment and you live in the now, and this is right now — so we’re going to give it our best crack.”
Giant Lions prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye, meanwhile, predicts a big contest in the scrums.
“It’s (scrum battle) massive. We looked at our performance last week, not quite good enough. When it comes to play-offs, set-piece is a big part of the game,” the 153kg Ntlabakanye said.
“So for us, it’s about fixing that up. It’s a final after all, and if you are not up for it, then I don’t know! They beat us in the league games as well, so we weren’t at our best then. Credit to them, they were very good on that day.
Teams:
Lions team: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Rynhardt Jonker, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Tapiwa Mafura, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Jarod Cairns, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Renzo du Plessis, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie (capt), 1 Morgan Naude.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Conrad van Vuuren, 19 Siba Qoma, 20 Raynard Roets, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Kade Wolhuter, 23 Kelly Mpeku.
Sharks team: 15 Jordan Hendrikse, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka (captain), 6 James Venter, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Corné Rahl, 3 Hanro Jacobs, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Mawande Mdande, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Gerbrandt Grobler, 21 Tino Mavesere, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Lionel Cronjé.