{"id":156280,"date":"2020-02-07T04:32:53","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T02:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/match-preview-featured-durban-blog\/"},"modified":"2020-02-07T04:32:53","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T02:32:53","slug":"match-preview-featured-durban-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/match-preview-featured-durban-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Match Preview \u2013 Featured Durban Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Match Preview<\/a>: <\/p>\n

The Cell C Sharks and Highlanders go head-to-head at Forsyth Barr Stadium in New Zealand on Friday morning as the teams meet in our first of four tour matches of Vodacom Super Rugby 2020.<\/p>\n

The Highlanders were hit hard by player movements at the end of the 2019 season, the highest profile loss being All Black fullback Ben Smith, while they also lost the services of Marty Banks, Waisake Naholo, Tevita Li, Matt Faddes, Elliot Dixon and Liam Squires amongst others.<\/p>\n

But the Cell C Sharks too had losses of our own, although the recruitment of a number of established players and rising stars means that squad depth is well covered.<\/p>\n

After the heat and humidity of Durban, the team will welcome the opportunity to show off the hard work done during the pre-season and not always possible against the Vodacom Bulls in our opening match last weekend in the stifling heat at Jonsson Kings Park.<\/p>\n

Although the Highlanders had a bye in week one and only kick off their campaign on Friday, Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt is not expecting any rustiness for New Zealand\u2019s southernmost competitor. He also knows what to expect: typical New Zealand rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Highlanders played two pre-season games \u2013 against the Crusaders and Waratahs \u2013 we\u2019ve had a look at them and they\u2019re no different from all the Kiwi teams, they like to play a high intensity, direct style of rugby, moving the ball around a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finishing strongly is something the Cell C Sharks team want to maintain this year if they are to be successful. Taking the foot off the gas near the end can prove devastating and against the Bulls, the late try when the game hung in the balance was proof of the energy and fitness levels in the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a good vibe in the team and the players are in a good space which contributes to a strong finish, but we can\u2019t underestimate how much work they\u2019ve put in,\u201d Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt explains. \u201cWith our long off-season, it was tough and the players admitted that it was probably their hardest pre-season that they\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n

While some might believe that the style of play employed against the Bulls is a sign of things to come, Everitt points out that this was a horses-for-courses game plan and that we should expect an exciting game of rugby against the Highlanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started preparing in a certain way two weeks before the Bulls game to take into account the Durban conditions, but we played vastly differently against the Stormers and we\u2019ll go back to that because it\u2019s how we trained all pre-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s what suits us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Match Info:<\/strong>
Highlanders vs Cell C Sharks
Date: Friday 7 February
Time: 08h05
Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium <\/p>\n

The post Match Preview<\/a> appeared first on The Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fill in the form below to have your blog featured on MyDurban \u2013 we will post a snippet and title link to your new blog posts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Submit and get free press releases here:<\/strong> MyPR Free Press Release<\/a> | Meet the Durban Bloggers<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Match Preview: The Cell C Sharks and Highlanders go head-to-head at Forsyth Barr Stadium in New Zealand on Friday morning as the teams meet in our first of four tour matches of Vodacom Super Rugby 2020. The Highlanders were hit hard by player movements at the end of the 2019 season, the highest profile loss […]<\/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":[18],"tags":[8275,3335,953],"class_list":{"0":"post-156280","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\/156280","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=156280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}