The Hollywoodbets Sharks will be looking to close out their three-match overseas Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour on a strong note when they take on Benetton on Saturday afternoon.
For head coach John Plumtree, the focus this week is very much about producing not only an 80 minute performance, but 80 good minutes with long periods of sustained pressure and controlling the controllables.
“We didn’t come out of thew changeroom well to start the first half, our discipline let us down with a yellow card in each half which allowed them back in, but luckily we finished the game well off the back of their poor discipline, putting them under pressure and then being good enough to get over the line,” he explained of the areas of concern last week that they have worked on in preparation for this clash with the Italians.
He will look to avoid a repeat of that this week. Explaining further, he added, “When we were playing good rugby we looked pretty comfortable and for me, the better team. We’ve got to be better at the stuff we can control, that’s been our big focus this week.”
Benetton have had a tough start to their campaign, with one draw and two defeats, but Plumtree is well aware of the fact that it’s still early days in the competition.
“I’ve spoken to the team about the fact that they’re a pretty proud club, the best in Italy with the most internationals; I think they have their full contingent of international players back, with their foreigners as well.
“So they’re going to be a real tough prospect. We have to be at our very best. It’s going to be a massive physical challenge because we know they will come hard at us, so we have to play really well for the longer periods.
“We played some really good rugby against Connacht and some really good rugby against the Dragons, but we haven’t put it together for long enough periods. That’s our challenge this week.
“The field will be a bit sticky, there’s been a lot of rain, so it’s going to be difficult conditions for us to handle, even though the forecast is for fine weather. We’re expecting a pretty wet pitch.”
A one-point home loss at Hollywoodbets Kings Park last year may not be front of mind, although avoiding a loss this week is uppermost in the planning.
“The focus hasn’t been on history, but it has been around fixing the things that we can fix,” Plumtree pointed out.
“When we’re under a bit of pressure, we give away a penalty or yellow card and that just puts us under more pressure. We haven’t talked about back-to-back victories or anything like that, it’s more about fixing our game up.
“We’re finishing the tour, this is our third week away off the back of a trip to Loftus and a trip to Emirates Airline Park, so this team has been on the road for a long time.
“They’ve done really well, they’ve played six matches, won four, drawn one and I’m really proud of this group and what they’ve achieved in the last six weeks.
“But getting a win here would really finish off a great block of games that we always knew would be challenging. I’m proud of the way the group has gone about their business.”
