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Cape Town - Sharks coach John Plumtree believes Western Province will bring a lot of confidence into the Currie Cup final in Durban on Saturday, especially after their last-gasp win over the Golden Lions last week.
Province scored after the hooter to snatch a 21-16 victory in their semi-final in Johannesburg, and Plumtree believes that makes them dangerous.
“They were down and out with couple of minutes to go, they got an opportunity and nailed it, that would have given them a lot of confidence coming here," he told the Sharks website.
"They’ve spoken about the character in their team and that builds confidence. I know there is a lot of talk about us being favourites, we know this is going to be a real final, a real arm-wrestle."
WP go into the game with several top players out injured, but the Sharks coach doesn't expect a weaker-than-normal effort from the Cape side.
"They are strong in all respects. They have a really big forward pack and X-factor all over the park, similar to what we faced in 2010. So there is no one specific area we will be targeting, we know if we don’t play well ourselves, or our defence doesn’t function well as a group, that can really hurt us.
"If you look at the Habanas, Aplons, Pietersens, there are some really good players in that side, all capable of punishing defensive lapses.”
The clash kicks off at 17:00 on Saturday.
Teams:
Sharks:
15. Louis Ludik 14. JP Pietersen 13. Paul Jordaan12. Tim Whitehead 11. Lwazi Mvovo 10. Patrick Lambie 9. Cobus Reinach 8. Keegan Daniel (captain) 7. Willem Alberts 6. Marcell Coetzee 5. Anton Bresler 4. Steven Sykes 3. Jannie du Plessis 2. Craig Burden 1. Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16. Kyle Cooper 17. Wiehahn Herbst 18. Jandre Marais 19. Jean Deysel 20. Charl McLeod 21. Meyer Bosman 22. Odwa Ndungane
Western Province:
15. Gio Aplon, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Demetri Catrakilis, 9. Nic Groom, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Don Armand, 6. Deon Fourie (captain), 5. De Kock Steenkamp, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16. Deon Carstens, 17. Brok Harris, 18. Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19. Jebb Sinclair, 20. Louis Schreuder, 21. Marcel Brache, 22. Joe Pietersen
Province scored after the hooter to snatch a 21-16 victory in their semi-final in Johannesburg, and Plumtree believes that makes them dangerous.
“They were down and out with couple of minutes to go, they got an opportunity and nailed it, that would have given them a lot of confidence coming here," he told the Sharks website.
"They’ve spoken about the character in their team and that builds confidence. I know there is a lot of talk about us being favourites, we know this is going to be a real final, a real arm-wrestle."
WP go into the game with several top players out injured, but the Sharks coach doesn't expect a weaker-than-normal effort from the Cape side.
"They are strong in all respects. They have a really big forward pack and X-factor all over the park, similar to what we faced in 2010. So there is no one specific area we will be targeting, we know if we don’t play well ourselves, or our defence doesn’t function well as a group, that can really hurt us.
"If you look at the Habanas, Aplons, Pietersens, there are some really good players in that side, all capable of punishing defensive lapses.”
The clash kicks off at 17:00 on Saturday.
Teams:
Sharks:
15. Louis Ludik 14. JP Pietersen 13. Paul Jordaan12. Tim Whitehead 11. Lwazi Mvovo 10. Patrick Lambie 9. Cobus Reinach 8. Keegan Daniel (captain) 7. Willem Alberts 6. Marcell Coetzee 5. Anton Bresler 4. Steven Sykes 3. Jannie du Plessis 2. Craig Burden 1. Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16. Kyle Cooper 17. Wiehahn Herbst 18. Jandre Marais 19. Jean Deysel 20. Charl McLeod 21. Meyer Bosman 22. Odwa Ndungane
Western Province:
15. Gio Aplon, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Demetri Catrakilis, 9. Nic Groom, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Don Armand, 6. Deon Fourie (captain), 5. De Kock Steenkamp, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16. Deon Carstens, 17. Brok Harris, 18. Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19. Jebb Sinclair, 20. Louis Schreuder, 21. Marcel Brache, 22. Joe Pietersen
