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Gallo Images<\/p>\n
The Sharks will be keeping a wary eye on the Stormers ever-consistent flyhalf Peter Grant when the teams clash at Newlands on Saturday.picture: gallo images<\/p>\n
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It is one of the strange anomalies of Super Rugby that the Stormers topped the standings yet neither their 9 or 10 was within a shout of Springbok selection, but that hardly means Peter Grant and Dewaldt Duvenage will not come in for close attention from the Sharks. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sharks coach John Plumtree said the pair were seriously under-rated. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this stage of the tournament, where a team gets a home semi and their 9 and 10 are not involved in the national set-up, is probably unlike any other country,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at New Zealand and their semi-finalists \u2013 the halfbacks for the Chiefs and the Crusaders are in the All Blacks\u2019 frame. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGrant and Duvenage have been consistent in their performances \u2013 that\u2019s what has impressed me the most about them.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Grant, in particular, seems to be one of those unfortunate players who escapes media hype despite routinely starring for his province. Somebody will say his tactical kicking is not up to scratch, and next thing that is the reason he is not picked \u2013 even though his team has no problem with gaining territory. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI can just say that to me he is probably the most consistent 10 in the country, yet he is not looked at by the national selectors,\u201d Plumtree observed. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Of the Stormers team in general, Plumtree said: \u201cThey don\u2019t change too much in what they do, but what they do is really efficient. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey work really hard defensively; their defence has been talked about enough. It\u2019s a wall that\u2019s hard to break down. Their lineout is really big, they have an unfair advantage with some monsters in their second row! <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir set piece is something they rely on. They gain a lot of confidence out of winning a territory game, they don\u2019t mind kicking out because they attack the opposition lineout. There are trends about them that are really consistent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a real belief in what they do, their leadership is clearly very strong because they get out there and play consistent rugby each week \u2013 that\u2019s why they finished top, that\u2019s why they\u2019re in a situation where, if they beat us, they get a home final. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also feed off the fact that they have a lot of good players but don\u2019t have as many Boks as some of the other teams. That motivates them as well.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Grant and Duvenage are prime examples. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Plumtree was asked whether the break given to the Stormers might in fact hinder them, in contrast with a Sharks side that is gaining increasing momentum after successive wins over the Bulls, Cheetahs and Reds. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those questions that is very hard to answer, it\u2019s a million-dollar question. The Stormers had no choice, nor did we, so I can probably only accurately answer that after the game.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The difference is that the Stormers have been relaxing in Cape Town, the Sharks have been to Brisbane and back, and that has got to take its toll. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something we haven\u2019t really talked about,\u201d Plumtree said. \u201cWe\u2019re not putting a big focus on what we\u2019ve been through, but rather on what\u2019s coming.\u201d And how much confidence can the Sharks take out of beating the Reds in an away game before going to the Stormers? <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery challenge is different,\u201d Plumtree said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys scored some great tries in that match. We knew that it would be important to start well against the Reds, we wanted to keep the crowd quiet and create a little bit of doubt. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt they didn\u2019t rate us all that highly down there, so we wanted to start well, put some doubt in their minds, and the boys went out and did that. However, the plan wasn\u2019t to make 240 tackles, but that\u2019s what we had to do, unfortunately, and that ultimately confirmed the character of the team.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
l Centre Paul Jordaan (hamstring) and Pat Lambie (ankle) are the only two injury concerns for Plumtree. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gallo Images The Sharks will be keeping a wary eye on the Stormers ever-consistent flyhalf Peter Grant when the teams clash at Newlands on Saturday.picture: gallo images \u00a0 It is one of the strange anomalies of Super Rugby that the Stormers topped the standings yet neither their 9 or 10 was within a shout of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-12791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}