By Gavin Rich.
Rito Hlungwani clearly knows a cliche when he sees one and the DHL Stormers forwards coach was correct in assuming that he would be trotting out a well worn line if he spoke about the Cell C Sharks being dangerous due to them having their backs to the wall.
The build-up to Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship return clash with the Sharks is certainly different to what it usually is when the Stormers and Sharks play each other. It is hard to remember when there was a one-sided game between the two coastal sides. Until three weeks ago that is. The Stormers’ 46-19 win was a handsome one, and it was also away, at HollywoodBets Kings Park.
So what chance is there of the Sharks coming to Cape Town and reversing that result? After their slip against Ulster last week you’d say not much, but then rugby has produced many big surprise results down the years.
TSHITUKA KNOWS WHAT IT REQUIRES
And there is one player in the Sharks team, Vincent Tshituka, who knows how to shock the Stormers at the DHL Stadium. Tshituka, playing for the Emirates Lions then, was the man of the match the last time the Stormers lost on their home ground. That was way back in December 2021. In other word, 14 months ago.
As Hlungwani notes, the Sharks also won’t lack motivation. They will have been chastened by their big defeat in Durban in the first round game, and will relish the fact they have had a relatively short turn-around since then in their quest to get revenge. The Ulster defeat will also have hurt and the Sharks are now starting to head towards a stage of the season where they can’t afford to lose again if they want to qualify comfortably for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
“Look, we know how it works, when you misfire you put in a lot of extra work to get things right and in order to bounce back. We’ve all been there,” said Hlungwani.
“When it comes to dealing with the Sharks’ motivation this week, I am going to give you a very cliched answer. We know they will be hurting and feeling down, and that will make them dangerous. At the same time though we focus a lot on ourselves and we are constantly striving to get killer instinct every week. We challenge ourselves each week and we challenge ourselves consistently and to be consistent.”
Hlungwani said that the key for the Stormers on Saturday was to reproduce what has worked in the last two games, the first against the Sharks and then the more recent win away against the Vodacom Bulls.
“The key thing about this weekend’s game is can we have the killer instinct we had in our last two games, and can we be consistent in how we want to dominate teams,” said Hlungwani.
The Stormers are certainly playing with a lot of confidence at the moment and haven’t lacked ruthlessness. At DHL Stadium, in front of their home fans, they will be particularly hard to beat, and their home sequence of wins underlines that.
Hlungwani reckons the Sharks will turn the corner soon, he just hopes it won’t be this weekend.
“The key thing is teams do go through slumps, and there are reasons for that. One week it might be the scrum, the other week it might be the lineout or your counter-attack that doesn’t work. We’ve all been through it. Hopefully it won’t be this weekend, but I am sure the Sharks will turn the corner soon.”
FOCUS ON MAUL AND SCRUMS
What worked for the Stormers in the first round game was the maul, and with Ulster also exposing the Sharks in that area last week, there are no prizes for guessing that it will be a big focus for the Sharks in Saturday’s game.
“I think we’re quite happy with where the maul is,” said Hlungwani. “There are only two teams we have not scored maul tries against this season, and that was Cardiff and the Opsreys. We like using it and it is something we will definitely look to use this weekend. I know the Sharks will be working hard on it after last week. They are usually a good maul stopping team, so they will sharpen up.
“But our maul is a big part of our game and we will be putting a lot of focus on it in our preparation,” he added.
Ditto the scrums, where the Stormers were completely dominant in the first round game.
“What is crucial is that we are building a strong scrumming culture. Regardless of who we put into the team at the weekend we know what expect of them. The players will be hungry and ready to dominate. Whoever is on the field this weekend scrum is one place want to focus on.”