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Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town - Perish any thought that the Sharks will be vulnerable or fatigued after their globe-trotting Super Rugby exertions - including successive defeats - of the past couple of weeks.
That is the warning from returning Stormers captain Schalk Burger ahead of the South African conference table-topping clash against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
Asked by Sport24 on Wednesday whether his team might have an edge in late-game “gas”, considering the Sharks’ particularly up-tempo outing against the Crusaders at Twickenham and six-day turnaround after long-haul return travel for the Stormers encounter, Burger replied: “I don’t think that will have a great effect.
“They will see it as their tour phase having come to an end, and they had a pretty easy return flight straight down to Durban.
“They’ll be fired up for this game, and will take a lot of inspiration from it being back on home turf where they do have a great record.
“All in all, they won two and lost two games on tour ... and I thought they played pretty well on Sunday.
“At one stage if they’d scored just one more try they’d have been right back in the thick of things, so I don’t think the (44-28) scoreline really reflected the true result - they put the Crusaders under quite a bit of pressure to make a lot of tackles themselves and the Crusaders were good enough to do that.
“They’ll take heart from aspects like that ... it speaks volumes for the Sharks’ attack last weekend. If they’d played a weaker team defensively they would probably have won it.
“What makes the Crusaders such a fantastic side is that apart from their strong attacking game they’re always in the top two or three defensive sides as well. Luckily we don’t have to worry about them just yet!”
Coach Allister Coetzee concurred that the Sharks remain a top-notch outfit: “They’ve had their (overseas) tour now, and look where they are still placed on the log ... it just shows what a formidable side they are.”
And when one reporter suggested the home side would be the more “desperate” on the day, considering the danger of losing touch with the unbeaten log-leaders from the Cape should they suffer another defeat, Coetzee quipped: “As long as you guys say that ... fine!”
Cape Town - Perish any thought that the Sharks will be vulnerable or fatigued after their globe-trotting Super Rugby exertions - including successive defeats - of the past couple of weeks.
That is the warning from returning Stormers captain Schalk Burger ahead of the South African conference table-topping clash against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
Asked by Sport24 on Wednesday whether his team might have an edge in late-game “gas”, considering the Sharks’ particularly up-tempo outing against the Crusaders at Twickenham and six-day turnaround after long-haul return travel for the Stormers encounter, Burger replied: “I don’t think that will have a great effect.
“They will see it as their tour phase having come to an end, and they had a pretty easy return flight straight down to Durban.
“They’ll be fired up for this game, and will take a lot of inspiration from it being back on home turf where they do have a great record.
“All in all, they won two and lost two games on tour ... and I thought they played pretty well on Sunday.
“At one stage if they’d scored just one more try they’d have been right back in the thick of things, so I don’t think the (44-28) scoreline really reflected the true result - they put the Crusaders under quite a bit of pressure to make a lot of tackles themselves and the Crusaders were good enough to do that.
“They’ll take heart from aspects like that ... it speaks volumes for the Sharks’ attack last weekend. If they’d played a weaker team defensively they would probably have won it.
“What makes the Crusaders such a fantastic side is that apart from their strong attacking game they’re always in the top two or three defensive sides as well. Luckily we don’t have to worry about them just yet!”
Coach Allister Coetzee concurred that the Sharks remain a top-notch outfit: “They’ve had their (overseas) tour now, and look where they are still placed on the log ... it just shows what a formidable side they are.”
And when one reporter suggested the home side would be the more “desperate” on the day, considering the danger of losing touch with the unbeaten log-leaders from the Cape should they suffer another defeat, Coetzee quipped: “As long as you guys say that ... fine!”
