Sharks captain on Bulls: ‘Favourites tag puts a target on their backs'

SPOTLIGHT: For many fans and pundits the Bulls will be heading into Saturday's United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against the Sharks as the favourites.

It might be a bit surprising after the Sharks won both of their meetings in the URC season.

The Sharks were 30-16 winners in their first meeting in Durban in December and they completed the double with a 29-22 win in early February. The Bulls played most of that second match with 14 men after Morne Steyn received an early red card.

However, knock-out rugby is a different kettle of fish and the Bulls have a rich history in these kinds of games. More recently they won the last two Currie Cup finals against the Sharks.

"For a lot of people the Bulls will be favourites, but there are also many others who we feel that we are the favourites,” said Sharks captain Thomas du Toit.

"The Bulls have really gone into their stride in the last few games, but we think we have been improving from day one.

"We had a few hiccups here and there, but we are really going forward and we are getting better every week.

"It's a difficult task for us and we recognise that they might be the favourites, but that puts a target on their backs."

The Sharks missed out on a home quarterfinal after their defeat to Ulster in their final round-robin. However, Du Toit prefers to focus on the bright side of the situation they find themselves in.

"The reality is that this [playing Pretoria] is the next best option for us," he explained.

"The best option would have been to play at home [at Kings Park], but the next best option is to stay in South Africa."

The story continues below...

The set-piece battle

Du Toit will once again form part of a powerful front row for Saturday's fixture and the scrums will be a major target area for the visitors.

They dominated the Bulls in that area in their previous encounters, but the Sharks captain is expecting a sterner test this time around.

"The Bulls will always have a really good set-piece and we don't want to take anything away from them," Du Toit added.

"It’s just about how much we can pressurise them.

"It's obviously an area of the game we all focus on.

"The scrums do a play big role, and we definitely got some good reward, but it’s a new game and they have been scrumming really well.

"We got a tough task ahead of us.

"I felt like we got some good combinations going, especially in the front three and our back three has been playing together for quite some time.

"We are very much in sync and the scrums will show that."

@rugby365com