Sharks aim to break Reds 'curse'
2006-03-31 21:09
De Jongh Borchardt
Durban - The Sharks will try and shake off the Reds monkey sitting on their shoulders in the Super 14 clash at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts have only beaten the Australian side on two occasions in the last 10 years.
The first time was in 1996 when the Durban-based side surprised the home crowd in Brisbane and again in 1998, which also was the last time.
Since then the Queenslanders have been on the winning side seven times.
The last time these two teams met in Durban was a bitter pill for the Sharks. It generally was a poor game and they lost the game by 5-6.
AJ Venter, one of the stars of this season, remembers the game well, although he says it is the game he would least like to remember.
"On Saturday the score won't be the same again and the quality of rugby will be better."
He stressed that the Reds are never an easy team to play against and the scores in their games are seldom high.
"For what reason I cannot explain. They may not be the strongest team on attack, but defensively they are strong."
With Tony Brown as pivot the Sharks are playing solid attacking rugby. However, against the Reds they will have to be very sound against the Aussie team's defence.
And if the Sharks were to think players like Drew Mitchell, Ben Tune and Sam Cordingley have travelled to Durban to play a defensive game, they could be in for a surprise.
The performance of Brad Barritt at inside centre will be studied carefully as well as the ball chasing ability of tough flank Keegan Daniel who may make his debut for the Sharks off the replacement bench.
The teams are:
Sharks: Percy Montgomery, Odwa Ndungane, Adrian Jacobs, Brad Barritt, Henno Mentz, Tony Brown, Ruan Pienaar, AJ Venter, Jacques Botes, Warren Britz, Johann Muller, Johan Ackermann, BJ Botha, John Smit (c), Deon Carstens.
REPLACEMENTS: Bismarck du Plessis, Heinke van der Merwe, Albert van den Berg, Craig Davidson, Waylon Murray, JP Pietersen.
Reds: Drew Mitchell, Caleb Brown, Ben Tune, Julian Huxley, Peter Hynes, Berrick Barnes, Sam Cordingle, John Roe (c), David Croft, Tom McVerry, James Horwill, Mitchell Chapman, Rodney Blake, Stephen Moore, Greg Holmes.
REPLACEMENTS: Sean Hardman, Anthony Mathison, Ben Mowen, Mark Connors, Josh Valentine, Lloyd Johansson, Henari Veratau.
Referee: Steve Walsh (NZ). Kick-off: 17:00. TV: M Net and SS 1.
- Beeld