The Hollywoodbets Sharks have an incredible challenge on their hands as they welcome Toulouse to Hollywoodbets Kings Park this evening in an epic Investec Champions Cup showdown.
Head coach John Plumtree accepts that there is a huge challenge for his own Springbok-laden team against the giants of France and Europe as he looks at the hype around the quality of international player named in both squads.
“The guys are really excited, the Toulouse team is full of star players, the best team in Europe and if you look at the names through their group, this is certainly going to be a massive challenge for the boys,” he admits.
With the quality of the opposition not lost on Plumtree, looking at where the game will be won and lost, he explains that, “We have to be efficient in every part of the game, if you think about our set-piece, our defence and our attack, we have to take the opportunities presented to us.
“We need to be able to build pressure, put them under pressure and then capitalise on that. On the flip side, they’re going to put us under a lot of pressure at times and we’re going to have to absorb that.
“They average around 50 points a game, that’s a lot of tries, and they do it by dominating the gain-line and the physical battles. So physically, we’ve got to be able to match that and go ahead of them and that’s where the challenge lies.”
The team named to take on the French champions is without the services of Eben Etzebeth, although he is expected back in action soon.
“He did really well with his concussion protocols during the week, but developed a headache after a scrum session on Wednesday, so we pulled him out straight away and he’ll be assessed over the next week,” Plumtree confirms. “I don’t think he’s far away from being fit, but we’ll have to treat him with caution.
Also missing are Andre Esterhuizen who is out for about three months, Aphelele Fassi had an operation on his ankle and the timeline on his return is still to be determined, and Lukhanyo Am is not far off, a week or two still. The bone in his arm has knitted well and he just needs to get some more strength in the wrist.
With senior statesmen out, this presents the opportunity for those taking their place to step up.
“What a game for them to really shine in,” Plumtree enthuses. “You can imagine how motivated those boys are to do well against this team. Games like this for a guy like Corne Rahl are probably the thing of dreams for him and now he has a real opportunity to measure himself against a really solid pack.
“It’s also a great opportunity for us as coaches to see where some of these young men are at.
“Looking at Hakeen Kunene at fullback, a promising young player who will be marking a whole lot of French internationals and I’m sure he’s pretty excited about that.
“Don’t forget we have some pretty good players in our group, we understand how we play our game and the boys know what we need to do.
“There are a lot of stars in that Toulouse side, a lot of big match-ups. Look at the Hendrikse brothers at 9 and 10 against their 9 and 10. They get to measure themselves against really good operators.
“Ultimately, it will be the team collective and how we can play together as a group for the full game.”