The Hollywoodbets Sharks host Benetton at Hollywoodbets Kings Park this afternoon in the penultimate round of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, looking to show how the team’s potential translates into a positive, successful performance.
With two games remaining in the competition, the team has a variety of aims as they look to conclude the tournament on a positive note.
“A good performance is what we want,” explains head coach JP Pieterse. “We’re disappointed to have not qualified for the top 8, it hurts, but what we can do is put in a good performance.
“We want to put out strong results in these last two games, to thank the fans for supporting us. The players also want to play for each other; it’s been a tough campaign with a lot of challenges.
“We must give credit to the players, every Monday they returned to training with a positive attitude and fight, to make the jersey proud.
“We also hope to find some gold in Siyaya at 10 and to see how Lili Bester is tracking with his development. It’s also great to see Phatu Ganyane playing so well for us at loosehead.”
Talking player development, Pietersen outlines the justification behind the selection of
Zekhethelo Siyaya at flyhalf.
“We’re planning ahead for the future, with Jean Smithmoving on and we want to see if Siyaya is capable at 10. Also to see if he can play in more than one position, because he did originally play flyhalf and later transitioned to fullback.”
The challenge of injuries this season has been a talking point the whole campaign and something that has had a major impact on the team’s successes.
“If you don’t have players available, you don’t build cohesion or consistency, and that’s been the trend this season. We couldn’t ever get our team together for more than two or three games, it’s just been one of those years where we were very unlucky with injuries.”
On the flip side, Pietersen points to the opportunities given to other players in the unfortunate scenario of a team-mate finding himself out of action.
“Look at Siyaya, he took his opportunity which we would never have seen without injuries to Fassi and Giliomee, and hopefully Lili Bester can come through and perform. Corne Rahl is only 23 and he plays in his 50th game for us, so we would never have seen players like that without the injuries.
“So credit to those young guys for taking their opportunities.”
Benetton will also look to finish their season on a high and they certainly have the firepower to push the Hollywoodbets Sharks hard.
“They’re a strong side with a good set-piece, they have a lot of Italian internationals with a good midfield.
“They bring a good kicking game and they have a lot of success with the contestables.
“Seeing what they did in beating Leinster, they are strong on the ball, put a lot of pressure at the breakdown. We know what’s coming, both sides want to finish the season strong, hopefully it will be a good contest between the teams and a great spectacle for the fans.”