John Plumtree is not taking a “must-win” Sharks result against fellow winless outfit Zebre-Parma for granted when the teams clash in Italy on Friday night.
The Sharks are desperate to open their account in the 2023-24 Vodacom URC after a 19-5 loss to Ospreys at the Twickenham Stoop last week. It was the Durbanites’ third consecutive defeat in the competition this season and they remain in 16th spot on the league table.
Zebre, in 13th place, were thrashed 54-29 by the Vodacom Bulls at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in round 3, yet Plumtree has cautioned the Sharks against writing off the threat posed by their Italian hosts.
Speaking in a conference call from Parma after naming the Sharks matchday 23 on Thursday, the Kiwi coach told reporters: “They’ve been really competitive in all of their games so they’ll definitely be targeting us – they’ll definitely be smelling a bit of blood, I reckon.
“We’ve just got to make sure that we enforce our game on them.
“They like to play a bit with the ball and like to score tries from deep. However, they do give a lot of opportunities to attack if we attack well, so hopefully we can build a bit and put them under pressure.”
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He added: “[Playing Munster and Leinster in] Ireland was always going to be a tough assignment for this young team that I’ve got here, and we were pretty disappointed with our performance against Ospreys, so this makes this [match] a real must-win for us.
“It’s only round 4 but we certainly would like to get some points and get on the table.”
In team news, George Cronje starts at No 8, swapping places with six-Test Springbok Sikhumbuzo Notshe, and there arguably will be more attention on the 22-year-old’s performance following the retirement of one of SA rugby’s greatest loose forwards, Duane Vermeulen.
Addressing the selection of Cronje, Plumtree said: “I like his continuity skills, he seems to pop up in the right places at the right times. His set-piece work still needs a bit of work but he’s got a lot of rugby in him.
“An intelligent player and I’ve been pretty happy with him; I’m still getting to know his game but he seems to be enjoying this environment and the professionalism we’ve got going on … hopefully he has a good one.”
Photo: Ryan Byrne/Inpho/Shutterstock
