‘Sharks don’t want repeat of last year’

The Sharks will take heart from the fact that they have won three of their last five home games against the Crusaders but...

Durban - The Sharks will take heart from the fact that they have won three of their last five home games against the Crusaders but it is at the same time sobering that the Christchurch team have won 16 of the last 20 encounters between the sides.

That is a seriously one-sided analysis ahead of Saturday’s Super Rugby clash between the sides at Kings Park, but if we are going to harp on statistics, the Sharks will take heart from the fact that they have been unbeaten in their last seven Super Rugby games – the last three fixtures of 2015 plus four from this year.

But what has gone before means little on the day, and the Sharks know this only too well. Still, they have the hugely appetising carrot before them of beating the Crusaders to enter their bye next week unbeaten.

The Sharks will indeed have their feet up next week and how dearly would they like to dip into their cooler boxes in front of the telly next week having seen off the seven-time champions.

“It was our pre-season goal to hit the bye week unbeaten,” says Michael Claassens, the veteran scrumhalf who once upon a time was a Cheetah and a Springbok before an accomplished career at English club, Bath.

“We were very disappointed with how we played against the Bulls but this week we have to pick ourselves up and give a much better account of ourselves.”

Claassens started last weekend’s game in Pretoria because of injury to Cobus Reinach and he says that it is testimony to how badly the Sharks played in the first half against the Bulls in that he feels that, as a scrumhalf, he was largely a bystander.

“Our ball retention was terrible,” Claassens acknowledges. “If we do not keep the ball better against a New Zealand team of the calibre of the Crusaders we will get a hiding as we did last Easter against these guys. Nobody wants a repeat of what happened this time last year, so we have to protect the ball a whole better than we have been doing.”

Claassens said that the Sharks had to meet fire with fire on attack after having relied chiefly on much improved defence to get them through the competition unbeaten thus far.

“The Crusaders are a dangerous team that throws the ball around and offloads a lot,” he said.

“They are a different challenge to the South African teams we have been playing in derbies over the last fortnight in that our players like to carry the ball into contact whereas Kiwis teams look to offload to find the hole in the defence, and if you make a mistake in handling the ball, they punish you.” Claassens said that in the Bulls game last week, the Sharks did not play well because they did not attack well.

“They guys have to learn to hold onto the ball,” the scrumhalf said. “Giving it away to the Bulls almost cost us the match but we will not be so fortunate this weekend if we give away possession to a team that thrives on turnover ball.”

This time last year, the Sharks had lost most of their leadership group to suspensions and it follows that discipline is a vital aspect of this game for the Sharks. “We have to restrain ourselves and get stuck into the Crusaders within the laws of the game,” Claassens said. “We will give this game our best shot but we will not transgress the laws.”

Fixtures

Friday: Hurricanes v Southern Kings, Wellington

Saturday: Chiefs v Force, Hamilton; Rebels v Highlanders, Melbourne; Sunwolves v Bulls, Singapore; Cheetahs v Brumbies, Bloemfontein; Sharks v Crusaders, Durban; Jaguares v Stormers, Buenos Aires

Sunday: Reds v Waratahs, Brisbane

The Mercury