Johannesburg - The Sharks’ Springbok contingent is hard at work at Hollywoodbets Kings Park and awaiting the return of the team from their United Rugby Championship (URC) tour but given the malfunction of the line-outs overseas, there surely would have been a temptation to get Eben Etzebeth on a plane to make his debut against Leinster in Dublin on Saturday.
That’s not going to happen and Eben the Angry’s Durban debut is set for their home game against the Glasgow Warriors on October 15.
Last week, coach Sean Everitt explained that his Bok players had been given a week’s vacation following the end of the Rugby Championship and since then have been getting up to speed with the Sharks’ processes under coaches Joey Mongalo and Etienne Fynn.
Everitt said that only in the case of a severe injury crisis would they consider calling up a Springbok.
The Sharks did lose a valuable lock to injury in Gerbrandt Grobler after the win over Zebre but last week they stuck with the men on tour in Reniel Hugo and Justin Basson, the signing from the Cheetahs, and they will continue with those two against Leinster.
Etzebeth is arguably the Sharks’ biggest ever signing — literally and metaphorically — but he is being saved for their first home game of the URC, and it is the luckless Glasgow who are going to learn to Fear the Fin.
The Sharks go into their Dublin encounter on Saturday on the back of wins over Zebre and the Dragons, but they could have lost both of those games despite patches of very good play.
That is exactly it … the Sharks have been playing in patches and if that continues, Leinster won’t be as forgiving as the Italian and Welsh teams.
The line-outs have wobbled and the rolling maul has not gone to plan, and forwards coach Warren Whiteley knows this has to be fixed.
“We’ve been focusing on our line-outs and maul defence over the last two weeks and have seen some improvement in this regard,” the former Springbok captain said. “We were disappointed in the first game but made an improvement against the Dragons.
“However, it wasn’t at the standard that we want. We've placed emphasis on that, and we know that Leinster has a powerful pack.
“There are some specific details we have worked on in the last two weeks or so,” Whiteley added.
“This weekend is another opportunity to keep improving in that department.”
A brighter area for the forward pack has been the energetic performances of the youthful loose trio of Phepsi Buthelezi, James Venter and Dylan Richardson.
The latter was the Man of the Match against the Dragons but his fellow loosies were breathing down his neck.
All three were strong with the ball in hand and made countless carries between them.
Whiteley said he is pleased with their progress.
“These three guys have only played a handful of games together. We’ve been excited by what we’ve seen and they are just going to get better and better,” he said.
IOL Sport