The Hollywoodbets Sharks are settled in the town of Bordeaux ahead of their final pool clash of the Investec Champions Cup tournament, looking forward to finishing the pool stages on a high against Bordeaux Bègles on Sunday.
Hollywoodbets Sharks loose forward Phepsi Buthelezi, speaking from France where conditions are very different to what the Durbanites are accustomed to, admits that despite the disappointing loss last week against Toulouse, his team has put that behind them, learned some valuable lessons, and are in a good mental space ahead of their clash with Bordeaux.
“It’s a bit chilly this side, when we arrived it was -2C which is a bit of a change for us coming from Durban where it’s hot and humid,” he explains.
“We are all in a really good space, our goal for this week is pretty simple and straight-forward: we want to qualify for the round of 16, but we know we have our work cut out for us.”
Bordeaux, like Toulouse, will bring their French flair, cosmopolitan influences and sturdy defence to this game, and Buthelezi acknowledges the challenge that his team face.
“They’re a quality side, they’re going well in the French Top 14 as well as the Champions Cup. They came up short last year and will look to rectify that this year.
“They’re also team that scores a lot of tries, they haven’t scored less than about 35 points per game in their last five or six games, so we know we’re going to have to roll up our sleeves defensively.
“But the mood in the camp is really good. We were really gutted after the loss at home against Toulouse last week, we really don’t like losing at home. We don’t like losing in a Hollywoodbets Sharks jersey, but we felt that we had enough opportunities last week to put that game away.
“We’ve turned over a new page, we’re getting stuck into preparing for the game, with Captain’s Run on Saturday before ripping into it on Sunday.”
As the final weekend beckons ahead of the four knock-out stage rounds, many of the 24 elite clubs [including the Hollywoodbets Sharks] – eight each from the Gallagher Premiership, URC and TOP 14 – in four pools of six will all be fighting for the knock-outs with the four highest-ranked clubs in each pool qualifying for the Round of 16 to take place in early April.
“We’re looking forward to making all our supporters proud, making ourselves proud and making sure we get that knock-out qualification,” he added.
“It’s a very important week for the club and the province of KZN and we’re all geared towards that goal and achieving what we’ve set out for this week.”