Ex Supersport
The thought of the Sharks winning the South African Super Rugby conference is becoming less fanciful by the day, with the Durban team being the one with the momentum heading into the business end of the league season.
While the Bulls and Stormers will go to Loftus this weekend for their massive derby off defeats, the Sharks will head to Johannesburg on a winning streak of four matches and well placed to deliver what coach John Plumtree asked for when they came back from their first bye – he wanted five wins out of five in the matches that remained before the June break.
Their excellent 25-20 win over the Stormers, easily their best performance of the season so far against quality opposition, places them just five points behind the Cape team, who remain conference leaders and are second on the overall log. Should the Stormers lose to the Bulls and not pick up a bonus point, the Sharks could go level with them on log points after this next round.
And while the Bulls would then be top of the conference, it wouldn’t be by much – and the Sharks, as well as having a guaranteed four points for their second bye to look forward to at the start of July, host the Bulls in Durban in the first match of the closing sequence of games. On the evidence of the form they showed against the Stormers, and the impressive momentum they have picked up, they will rate their chances. (Hahahahhaha - just as I had noted)
Having said that, the Stormers, who showed great resolve in fighting back from a desperate situation to nearly steal it from the Sharks in Durban, must still be the conference favourites – and it is the Sharks’ form that helps them retain that status. The bonus point they stole off the Sharks was crucial in what has developed into a close race.
It means they are currently two ahead of the Bulls, which means that even if the Bulls won comfortably at Loftus this coming weekend, they will still be well within the Stormers’ range going into the break. And with the Bulls due to go to Durban, the fact the Stormers have a much better sequence of matches to close off the competition – Lions, Cheetahs and Rebels – could count in the favour of last year’s conference champions.
They will be getting Schalk Burger, Duane Vermeulen and Nick Koster back from injury during that period, and they have also been helped immeasurably by the selections of Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer (All factors pointed out by Beeno). While in the Cape the fact the latest Bok group included only two Stormers forwards was derided by the critics, it actually helps the Stormers’ quest for conference supremacy in that the bulk of their group are going to be resting for three weeks. And the Stormers have shown signs just recently that a rest is what they need more than anything else.
Remember too that their superior number of victories, something that isn’t likely to change, will also give them the advantage in the event of them tying with another team, or another two teams as now appears possible, at the top of the conference.
Whatever the outcome, the battle for conference honours has become intriguing, and the logjam to start the July sequence of matches that was speculated last week still looks a strong prospect. It would just require the Bulls to beat the Stormers and the Sharks to dust off the Lions and score four tries in the process and there could be as little as three points separating the teams at the top.
However a Stormers win in Pretoria will put enough daylight between themselves and the chasers to almost wrap up the conference race. So this coming weekend is going to be a massive one for South African rugby, made even more significant by the Springbok squad announcement that will be made immediately after the game.
So there you have it. Stormers do the job against the bulle is as easy as that!
