Hollywoodbets Sharks coach JP Pietersen says his side will be out to make the most of the occasion at a sold-out Hollywoodbets Kings Park in their URC Sharks Fest tie with the Bulls on Saturday.
The Durbanites come off the back of a much-improved 28-23 Champions Cup win over Saracens last week, with Pietersen saying morale within the squad is at a high.
“It’s an opportunity every week to get better,” he said. “Obviously [we’re looking at] the positives that we took from the [Saracens] game, and how we can build on the positives going forward. It’s been a good week, prep has been going well and there’s some good energy in the group.”
The Bulls are low on confidence having lost each of their last four outings in all competitions, while injuries to Marcell Coetzee, Kade Wolhuter, Zak Burger and PA van Niekerk mean they will be shorn of some real talent when they run out on the weekend.
Still, the Sharks boss believes Johan Ackermann’s outfit will be difficult to beat, especially considering the beef they possess in the front row.
“They’ve got a very good squad, with Wilco [Louw] at the front and [Gerhard] Steenekamp you can see what they have,” he said. “We are aware of their scrum and we know it’s going to be a battle.
“I think it will bring the best out of us. We have to contest at scrumtime, and obviously they’ve got good lineout with [Ruan] Nortje, and their loose trio is good too with Marco van Staden, ‘The Sheriff’.”
Despite begin guilty of leaking more tries than they would have liked so far this term, Pietersen believes the Bulls’ fundamentals continue to make them a major threat.
“It’ll be a good game, a physical game. They’ve got a good pack of forwards, we’ve got a good pack of forwards. That’s what rugby’s about: it’s about the best playing against the best and how you can measure yourself and how you can compete come Saturday.
“I think it’s two teams that want to showcase what they really can do. If you look at what the Bulls have been doing with their games, they didn’t come with the results, but they actually played really well. Obviously the losses didn’t help but for us too we can say we had a rough start with our results.”
The sides have enjoyed a heated rivalry over the years, with the Hollywoodbets Sharks winning twice in their round robin stage head-to-heads last season before ultimately
falling to a 13-25 defeat to the Bulls in their semi-final in Pretoria. According to the former Springbok winger, that intensity brings out the best in each team.
“It’s always been a tough game [against the Bulls] since I’ve been playing it, and it’s always unpredictable who’s going to win the game. Probably for me personally it’s my favourite game or rivalry.
“Overall they’ve got the physicality, they’ve got the skillset to move the ball, they kick well, so it’s close to Test match rugby. We’ve got a history, the Bulls and Sharks over the years, which is a good history. People may think we like each other but we actually like each other and it brings the best out of us.
“Hopefully Saturday we can put a great performance out for the spectators, for the sold-out crowd.”
