As the Vodacom United Rugby Championship heads into the quarter-finals weekend and a match-up with Munster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday evening, the Hollywoodbets Sharks take unprecedented momentum into the knock-out rounds.
“We have a lot of confidence going into this game with four good wins in a row,” said centre Andre Esterhuizen after a rigorous training session this week.
“We have not played our best rugby, but it feels good that we know we can grind out wins if needed, especially at a wet Hollywoodbets Kings Park, it doesn’t look wet, but as soon as the dew sets in, the ball becomes difficult to handle.”
Although the hot and humid summer days are behind us, the wet ball has continued to be a thorn in the Durban side and with conditions as they have been in the lead-up to the quarters, Esterhuizen admitted that, “It’s like the field has been sprayed wet before kick-off.”
All four of their recent victories have been close, but victories nonetheless that have propelled them into a praiseworthy third-place finish. Talking about the narrow margins of victory, Esterhuizen admitted that it wasn’t exactly how they wanted to accomplish the wins, but he expects better this weekend.
“We never want to grind games out, we want to win them comfortably, like we know we can. But we are getting better week by week, so hopefully we can hit our straps against Munster. But if it means we have to grind out a win, that’s what we will do.
“We feel we are building something on attack and that we’re improving. We just need to accelerate into the next gear; we are close and we’re confident because every week we win while knowing we can be better.”
Confidence comes from winning, but it also comes from who your team-mates are and the game time spent together, growing and gelling.
“We have players of excellent pedigree and very good depth,” he explained. “Everyone has played at some stage this year, so whoever steps in is experienced, and hopefully we can replicate some of that excellent rugby from last year. Our last game against Munster (a 41–24 win last October in Durban) was very good.”
Munster will be looking to emulate their successes of two seasons ago, winning the VURC tournament in the 2022/23 season, and Esterhuizen expects big things from the Irish.
“Munster will come out with all guns blazing, and there’s a lot of belief because they’ve done it before.”
Head coach John Plumtree has regularly praised Joey Mongalo for the excellent work he has done within his role as defence coach of the Hollywoodbets Sharks, and this is an aspect of the game, a big part of it – that Esterhuizen is proud of.
“Defence tells you how much players care for each other, it is about wanting to work hard for your teammates. We haven’t let in many tries recently, and we’re planning for more of the same this weekend, while wanting to explode on attack.”