Super Rugby: Springboks legend has simple advice for the Sharks
Former lock Mark Andrews believes the Durbanites don't have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to beat the Lions in their playoff match.
Former Springboks lock Mark Andrews believes the Sharks should simply try to bully the Lions … much like he did in his heyday. Photo: Tertius Pickard/Gallo Images.
Physicality is one of the prize possessions of the current Sharks side and Mark Andrews, one of their finest enforcer forwards, believes they have to use it to rattle the Lions if they are to have any chance of causing an upset in Saturday’s Super Rugby quarterfinal at Ellis Park.
“The Sharks have to be in their faces, they have to do whatever they can to disrupt he Lions and get under their skin. If they allow the Lions to get momentum, then they are phenomenal with Ross Cronje spurring on the forwards and the backs they have.
“It’s very hard to stop the Lions once they get going, so you have to slow them down, try and give them bad first-phase ball and slow them down at the breakdown as well,” Andrews, who played 77 Tests for the Springboks, said on Friday.
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“But if you can’t slow them down there, then you’ve got to get out and get into the defensive line as quickly as possible.”
It’s very much what the Sharks did to the Lions when they last met at Ellis Park, on April 1 when the home side scraped through 34-29 with a late try from deep, and with the match officials playing no small part, so the Sharks will be looking to play with the same intensity, while hoping for a better outcome.
“We felt very unlucky that we didn’t win the game in Johannesburg, but we played well. We hope for a repeat performance but winning the game at the end.
“To do that, we have to be really accurate at the set-pieces, we have to put their key players under pressure and we have to be very accurate on defence, because if you give them any opportunity, they take it. And we have to make sure we take our opportunities,” Sharks coach Robert du Preez said.
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