Sharks brace for Super Rugby gauntlet

While the weekend’s match is a tussle for second place in the South African conference, the outcome will mean a lot more for the Sharks ahead of their three week tour of New Zealand.

Quite simply, a win over a very good Lions side will be a massive confidence booster. Many similarities can be drawn between the Lions style of play and the Kiwi teams and victory in Durban will be a notch on the belt in terms of nullifying a serious attacking threat.

“I think we’ve been honest during the course of the season and said that the games with the teams in your pool are more important,” Gold said.

“But I don’t think that should skew our vision of where we are this season. We’ve had a reasonably good start but had a bit of a blip last game where we didn’t come away with a victory, it wasn’t a great performance. We want to get back to playing good rugby and what better team than the Lions to get back to winning ways - important in the context that we are just about to go on tour.”

There is pressure on the Sharks to pick up wins on the road and emulate the Lions’ start to the season. The Johannesburg outfit managed two consecutive wins on tour; including a first ever win over the Chiefs in Hamilton.

However Gold insisted that there was more focus on winning this weekend’s match first and ticking some important boxes.

“I think that is a potential blip if you start thinking about things that are on the horizon. I can’t really do anything about what the Lions have or haven’t done, we have to be in control of our own destiny,” Gold said.

“We knew the draw was going to be like this and it poses some challenges but that is why the Lions game is so important to give ourselves a little bit of a buffer before we go away on tour. Then our focus will shift to what we believe we can do in New Zealand to hopefully come away with a couple of results like they did as well.”

The Sharks will be looking for clinical execution this weekend in order to snuff out the Lions free flowing game plan. As they’ve shown this season, the Lions thrive on open play and counter-attack, which means the Sharks will have to kick accurately and continue their impressive defensive efforts.

Gold also wants to see his charges make better use of possession on attack.

“The Lions play an exciting brand of rugby to watch and we’re mindful of that. Kiwi teams play a similar game, the Argentinian team play a similar game and to a degree the Stormers play a similar game," Gold said.

“We have put our time and energy to elements of our game that aren’t up to scratch. It’s a silly cliché but it’s very difficult to win a rugby game when you don’t have the ball. One of the things we really want to do is make the best of the ball. Not kick it away aimlessly, look after possession and build phases and pressure. I think we’ve shown it enough this season that when we do play with ball in hand we can play a great brand of rugby and that is what we aspire to.”

The Sharks will face Blues, Highlanders and Chiefs on their tour of New Zealand.

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