The Cell C Sharks face a completely new challenge on Friday evening when bitterly cold conditions and a passionate French side greet them in their second round Heineken Champions Cup match against Bordeaux Bègles.
The Cell C Sharks come off a morale-boosting first round win against English Premiership giants Harlequins, and for hooker Bongi Mbonambi, this was a good start to their first taste of European rugby at this level.
“Last week’s game against Harlequins met our Heineken Champions Cup expectations, it was a good start from us but we know there’s a lot we can improve on,” he admitted from the team’s base in Bordeaux. “But yeah, the whole hype was met and as a team, we enjoyed ourselves out there and just looking forward to the rest of the competition.”
Bordeaux come off a first round loss to Gloucester in England and like all the French sides, will be a completely different prospect at their home ground at Stade Chaban-Delmas.
“Any French team would be hurting after losing their first game because they’ve been in the competition for so long. We’ve had a review, looking at them and their games and I must say, they really have a good squad. Last week’s [22-17] loss was just a slip-up for them, they can’t be judged on that game and we know this match is going to be really tough.
“They have a good pack, a good backline, and we [the Springboks] played against their flyhalf and scrumhalf in that test match against the French, we know they’re going to be up for it, playing in front of their home crowd.
“It’s always tough playing in France so we have to be as well-prepared as we can.”
December rugby is a novel shift for the Cell C Sharks and after the stifling heat of Durban, they’re now in deepest winter in France, having to acclimatise to sub-zero temperatures.
“There’s a big difference,” the affable hooker admitted with a smile. “We’ve just come from over 30° summer in Durban and they say we’ll be playing in 0° on Friday evening which is a different kind of cold. But we’ll embrace it and enjoy the challenge.
“We have also had talks about the way we want to control the ball particularly in contact, in these cold conditions. You don’t want to lose possession in contact because that puts you under pressure and certainly not against Bordeaux who have a good attacking structure.
“So we want to control the ball, respect it more and put the opposition under pressure.”
Another challenge the players have owned up to is discipline, and while the two cards did not cost the Cell C Sharks the game against Harlequins at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday, it’s an advantage they don’t want to give the French on Friday night.
“We’ve had a leadership meeting where we had a tough talk about discipline, and I put my hand up and apologised for it. It’s not my style of play or the way I want to play for the Cell C Sharks and I take 100% responsibility for that and will make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“What we also learned from that game was even if you’re a few points ahead, you can never relax, the teams in this competition are very good and they’ve been here for a lot longer than we have so we have a lot to learn.
“It will be the same this weekend, we’ll have to keep piling on the pressure if we’re ahead to make sure we come away with the points.”
