Sharks confident but they have massive respect for Bulls

Siya Kolisi was quick to remind a journalist on a press conference call on Tuesday that he has a different role at the Hollywoodbets Sharks to the one he has at the Springboks.

“I am not ‘Skipper’ here,” he said, “not here at the Sharks.”

Of course it is excusable for someone to forget that, for even if it will be Eben Etzebeth who will lead the Sharks into action when they play their first ever Vodacom URC semifinal against the Vodacom Bulls on Saturday, obviously Kolisi will always be part of the core leadership group of any team he plays in.

And the “Sharks loose-forward”, as he was introduced at the online call, has seen more on field action in the Sharks jersey this season, and been more of a constant presence on what at times might have seemed a bit of a roller-coaster ride, than Etzebeth has.

Given his achievements with the Boks as a two time World Cup winning captain, there’s also a key point about his career that is easily overlooked - he has yet to win a major international club trophy.

He wasn’t part of the Sharks team that won the EPCR Challenge Cup last season as he was playing in France, and in his time playing for and occasionally captaining the Stormers, the Cape team never experienced any success. It was only after he’d left that they won their first international trophy in the form of the URC in 2022.

KEEN TO BE PART OF A URC WINNING TEAM

He wasn’t asked the question about his personal ambitions but in a wide ranging presser that saw him speak really well on Jaden Hendrikse and the co-called ‘Cramp-gate’ at the weekend (a separate story will be filed on that subject), it was pretty clear that now that the pot of goal at the end of the rainbow is becoming more visible, Kolisi is every keen to be part of a URC winning team.

But while he felt that the Sharks built well into the quarterfinal against Munster which went to extra time and then to a penalty shoot out, and feels the team has gained in confidence during an extended spell where they’ve done what they had to do, which is win, it was also clear he has enormous respect for the side his team have to overcome in order to make the final.

“We are confident but we are also very aware of what the Bulls have done sine we last played against them,” said Kolisi in reference to the Sharks’ close wins over the Bulls in the league phase of the competition.

“They have gone on a winning run and they have shown in the last couple of games what they are capable of. But the focus is on ourselves. We have just played a 100 minute game, which was tough, and we know we have a lot to still iron out on. The focus right now is on controlling what we can control.”

Not for nothing did the Bulls finish second on the final URC log, and Kolisi reckons the Sharks will have multiple threats to contend with in a game he is looking forward to in what should be a sold out or close to sold out arena.

“What I am expecting from the Bulls is what they are good at. They score a lot of tries from the lineouts, they are a good mauling side, and they play a lot off the lineouts, both off the top and with their driving.

"They have really strong loosie and there is a reason that Cameron Hanekom, who is an amazing player, is in contention for URC Player of the year.

"Jan-Hendrik Wessels has been a standout, Ruan Nortje, Marcel (Coetzee), in fact if you look at their pack and suss out their form both individually and as a collective it is clear that their pack is going to be a big challenge for us.

“And the guys at the back are as good. Embrose (Papier) is amazing and Willie (le Roux) takes charge. Canan (Moodie) makes decisions on the outside and is extremely dangerous. They are great at scoring off counter-attack and turnovers. We know we will have our work cut out and we will have to be very good to win this one.”

SHARKS FINISHED WITH MOMENTUM AGAINST MUNSTER

Kolisi is convinced though that although the Sharks didn’t win the game against Munster (it was in fact the second drawn game between the two sides at Kings Park in the space of three seasons), they were starting to get their game together once they got into it around the 30 minute mark.

“We didn’t start well but we did feel like we built into it and I thought we were quite dominant for most of that game, the only thing that kept Munster in it was their level of desperation,” he said.

Indeed, the Sharks were completely on top in the set phases and were powerful on the drive, and if there was a bizarre aspect of the game, it was the end result. Had the Sharks won by 15 to 20 points it would not have been an inaccurate summation of the flow of the game.

If it was the Munster fight and determination that kept them in it, those were ingredients that the Sharks would have recognised.

For that’s one thing that has been consistent about them this season, perhaps with only the exception of the away game against the Emirates Lions in the URC, it has been their willingness to fight for the cause and it has been that steely determination that has helped them prevail.

“There has been good progress from us this year in terms of the results but I think the thing we have learned the most about ourselves this season and which has been the point of difference from previous years is that we know we can fight,” said Kolisi.

“We have won games that in previous years we would have lost. An example was the home game against the Bulls. We had injuries and several players were missing but, as has been the case all season, other players were able to come in and do the job for us. That is what we do. We fight and we don’t give up.

“At the end of the day people will say what they want to say about us, but it is the results that matter. We were able to fight to a win at Edinburgh, and we did it again in Ulster the following week. We keep doing that. That has to give us confidence.”