After a dismal Super Rugby season the Cell C Sharks have gone through a major revamp allowing a new crop of players to step up.
With the exodus of a number of the Sharks’ Springbok players to overseas contracts, and many of their big-name players plying their trade at The Rugby Championship and Rugby World Cup for the Springboks, a next generation of Sharks players both young and new need to man-up to the big stage.
Sibusiso ‘S’bura’ Sithole is 1 of those players that will be a key element to their success and he acknowledges that although not a senior player, he does bring a wealth of experience and knows that he has a big role to play.
“With the situation as it is, losing a lot of our Boks and players overseas, we all do get pushed up into more of a senior role in the team,” said Sithole.
“The way I play, I like to lead by example, so I’ll continue like that, hopefully play good rugby and the other players do the same.”
Sithole says that the players, who are all very young, are eager to perform and get results as that next generation.
“We have a young side, we’re looking at around 23 or 24 as the average age of players, and it’s not so much about how many caps a player has, but how everyone performs on the day. We have a team with young, exciting guys who want to perform.”
With a warm-up match against the Golden Lions in Pietermaritzburg on Friday and the Currie Cup kicking off next weekend, the Sharks players are starting to feel the excitement says Sithole.
Sithole had an outstanding Super Rugby campaign, playing in the latter stages and contributing massively in the final 8 matches consecutively after injuring himself in the opening match of the tournament and missing the following 7.
But he hopes to continue the great form he showed in the looming Currie Cup.
“I’m looking forward to taking all the confidence I gained – even if it was a slow start initially – into the Currie Cup and hopefully play even better rugby,” he explains.
The Sharks flyer admits that they have spent a lot of time and effort moulding themselves into a competitive unit.
“We’ve been training for a few weeks now, we’ve done a lot of fitness work with a large focus on skills, so it’s been a very constructive pre-season so far and with the energy brought by the young guys, everyone is excited for the upcoming Currie Cup competition.
He also knows that the excitement needs to be tempered by playing in the right places and making the right decisions of when to attack and when it would be foolhardy to try.
“Stats have proved that teams who run the ball too much and don’t kick too much, don’t always win. It’s all about finding a balance, so that if we’re under pressure, or in certain parts of the field, we know what our strategy is.
“But when it comes to us attacking in their half, the guys want to bring some flair to the attack. We want to find the balance; we are not saying we are going to play a lot more rugby, but we certainly are going to be more exciting.
The Sharks next generation recruits for the 2015 Currie Cup season and beyond include – Willie le Roux, Joe Pietersen, Phillip van der Walt, Jacques Potgieter, David McDuling, Wandile Mjekevu and Coenie Oosthuizen.
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