Sharks mentor Powell hopes charges avoid Durban demolition for return Stormers clash

Neil Powell. (Photo by Mandatory Credit Steve Haag/Gallo Images)

• Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell hopes they’ll be far better against the Stormers on Saturday as compared to how they were last month.
• The Sharks were well and truly beaten when they hosted the Stormers on 4 February, with the 46-19 hammering explaining the difference between the teams.
• The Sharks go into the game on the back of a home defeat against Ulster last week.

Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell hopes his charges can have a better United Rugby Championship outing against the Stormers on Saturday at the Cape Town Stadium than they did when they hosted the defending champions last month.

When the Stormers hopped into Durban on an extremely hot and humid afternoon on 4 February, they dished out a 46-19 thrashing without being at their best.

While some of the Stormers’ game components could have done with some improvement, they comprehensively outmuscled the Sharks.

The Stormers’ brutal physical edge in that game was driven home when former Sharks lock Ruben van Heerden ran over Hyron Andrews on his way to scoring one of the Stormers’ many tries on the day.

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Powell has shuffled his playing deck to include Aphelele Fassi at left-wing, a position he has played at Test level, but he also paired Gerbrandt Grobler and Emile van Heerden at lock to counter the Stormers’ forward aggression. 

Moving Fassi to wing allows for Boeta Chamberlain to stay at fullback while Curwin Bosch will captain the side at flyhalf.

Powell admitted that beating the Stormers in Cape Town will require a monumental effort.

“We want to have a better performance than what we had when we played them here,” Powell said.

“We had a good week leading up into that game and we’ve also had a good week leading into this game as well.

“I hope we have a better performance as compared to the one we had here because they’re a difficult side to beat at home.

“It’ll take a very good performance to give them a good run for their money. We’ve prepped well and we want to put together a far better performance than what we did.”

The Sharks go into the game on the back of a 31-24 home loss against Ulster in a match where they conceded two rolling maul tries.

It was another undistinguished display from a Sharks team that’s struggling to piece together decent performances when sans their Springbok players.

They’re still not available for this weekend and the Stormers, despite the absence of their frontline Boks, remain a potent physical threat.

Powell admitted they were collectively and individually shabby in some areas against Ulster, but backs his charges to come right.

“There were a few areas that we weren’t good in and there were a few individual errors from some players,” Powell said.

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“We understand that, at times, not everyone is at the top of their game, and we do back the individuals because one bad game doesn’t make them bad players.

“Some of the guys who made errors in that game are still in the team and we made it known that we really back them.

“However, conceding two maul tries was a big issue that’s something we’ve worked on.”

Kick-off is at 14:30 on Saturday.