Bloemfontein battle of battlers
After two consecutive losses, the Durban outfit is lying fourth on the points log, while the Cheetahs are in fifth place, two points behind them.
"The Sharks' current lack of form and their two losses is positive in the sense that we can use their lack of momentum against them, and in the process better our position. On the other hand, it can also be negative for us, because it will motivate them more. I know the Sharks, as I have played there myself. Brad McLeod-Henderson will be pushing his guys to collect a win against us," Cheetahs coach Rory Duncan said.
The Cheetahs have made changes in their backline, hoping fullback Rayno Benjamin and winger JP du Plessis will add spice to their attack.
"Rayno is a very special player who has played a lot of sevens rugby. He is going to add another dimension to our attacks from the back. JP is fairly unknown and that plays into our hands. His opposite player, Tonderai Chavanga, sometimes struggles on defence and we hope JP can challenge him on the attack. He is a big boy with quick feet and good running lines. We are looking for a good performance from him," assistant coach Franco Smith said.
The Sharks head coach, MacLeod-Henderson, said his side had not performed well over the last couple of weeks, and they wanted to rectify that against the Cheetahs.
"It's a crucial game, I mean after slipping up the last two weeks, we need to get back on track, we need to go to Bloem and get a result. We need to make sure that we don't give them any soft points, we need to create opportunities and we need to grab them,'' said MacLeod-Henderson.
MacLeod-Henderson is confident his men will give their best perfomance and come off victorious.
He believes Andre Esterhuizen and Tim Swiel will take this opportunity and use it well to help their teammates.
''They're both special players, Andre is a big strong guy and he can carry a ball for us, Tim's got alot of pace, he's got some nice twickle toes there, so he can generate some magic out wide, we're looking forward to seeing how they go,'' he said.
MacLeod-Henderson said they know it's going to be a physical and emotional game, therefore his men will have to watch the Cheetahs closely to rectify the mistakes they made on the last two encounters.
"We know it is going to be very tough against the Cheetahs. They are always physical at home and they have a guy like Sarel Pretorius at scrumhalf. He is a game breaker and we will have to watch him very carefully. Last week I think we just gave them a couple of soft points, I mean they did'nt score a try, we scored two tries and end up losing the game, it's not often that situation happens, but that's behind us now and we looking forward to Saturday,'' he added.
He explained why Paul Jordaan and Heimar Williams will not be involved this weekend.
''Paul is off this week, he's gone away for the week and Heimar has a groin injury, so he's out for about three to four weeks,'' MacLeod-Henderson said.
The two sides meet for their second Absa Currie Cup encounter this season.
The match is scheduled to take place at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein with kickoff at 15h00.
(File Photo:Gallo Images)
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