Durban<\/a>,\u201d Cell C Sharks prop Coenie Oosthuizen admitted in the build-up to this weekend\u2019s match.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
Reflecting back on the three matches in Australia and New Zealand, he commented that the team was in a good place. \u201cOur spirit is very high. In two of the games on tour we should have pulled through, but things didn\u2019t go our way and we were a bit unlucky, but the spirit in the camp overall is fantastic.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we had the opportunities to pull those games through and we know what we need to do to fix those things.\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
The Cell C Sharks have played well away from home which is something the team has been scrutinising. The results on the road, particularly on tour, have shown that this is a team more than capable of beating the best. This weekend is an opportunity to show that they can do it anywhere.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think any rugby player pitches up wanting to lose a game, or wanting to play badly,\u201d he said.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why we\u2019ve struggled to get started at home, but it is something we\u2019ve addressed; obviously we\u2019re not blind to our mistakes. We\u2019ve had a deep look at ourselves to try to rectify those mistakes and there are a couple of things we know we could do better; this weekend we are going to be implementing them.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of time to reflect after the tour, to see what we can do better, especially in our home games and there are things we will be doing from this game forward.\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
When the Cell C Sharks have begun games with venom and passion, they have generally managed to pull ahead and place enough pressure on the opposition to ensure victory. It\u2019s something they will look to keep doing.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things we\u2019ve spoken about is starting well, that\u2019s of massive importance. You can look at every aspect of a rugby game but if you don\u2019t get off to a good start, you\u2019re going to struggle throughout the game. We don\u2019t want to fall behind and then have to chase the game.\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
Looking to the Lions, he warned that despite playing the Crusaders in our last outing, this match presents even greater challenges.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cDerby games are your most physical games. People might think that the Crusaders and other New Zealand teams are your hardest opponents, but I personally feel that your home derbies are the toughest you\u2019ll play.\u00a0 Because we play them so often, we know what is expected and what to expect from them.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cThey also know how to get under your skin when it\u2019s a local derby because you\u2019ve been playing against most of them for some time already.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cWe respect the Lions a great deal and we expect them to come out firing after the previous match. It\u2019s definitely not going to be easy.\u201d<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
He started the previous match between the sides, the 42-5 Cell C Sharks defeat of the Lions in early April. Would the loss be in the back of the Lions minds? He admits that the shoe has been on the other foot (his!) before.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been in their position, in the exact same scenario before and yes, that previous loss is always there, but it also gives you more motivation.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it does is show what a team can do if they pitch up and you don\u2019t, particularly in the first 20 minutes and you\u2019re trailing by 20 points. I can\u2019t see them making the same mistakes as last time, they will rectify them and we will need to step it up and be ready for a heck of a battle in those first 20 minutes.<\/u><\/u><\/p>\n
<\/u>\u00a0<\/u><\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lions have a very strong forward pack, they are a top side as far as scrum success and scrum penalties go. We know exactly what to expect on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Cell C Sharks arrived back home from New Zealand for a bye week off and haven\u2019t wasted the opportunity to rest and refocus ahead of Saturday\u2019s Vodacom Super Rugby derby clash with the Emirates Lions at JONSSON KINGS PARK. \u00a0 \u201cBeing back at home is fantastic, seeing your family and being back with your […]<\/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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[8275,3335,953],"class_list":{"0":"post-137828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-durban","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-mydurban-co-za","9":"tag-newspaper","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\/137828","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=137828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}