The news keeps getting better for the unbeaten Natal Sharks, with South Africa’s one-time golden boy Bobby Skinstad set to make his debut for his new Super 14 franchise in Saturday’s home match with the Otago Highlanders.
The Sharks lead the southern hemisphere provincial series with New Zealand’s Auckland Blues after opening wins over the Bulls and the New South Wales Waratahs, both at home.
They will be at home again this weekend against the Highlanders, who will be finishing their three-week road trip, which has included a win over the Western Force in Perth and an 11-6 loss to the Golden Lions in Johannesburg.
But it is the eagerly anticipated Sharks’ debut of the injury blighted Skinstad, who captained the Springboks for 10 Tests in 2001/02, which will be a further boost to the Durban-based team.
”We are very happy with where we are with Bob,” coach Dick Muir said. ”He has had a three-year break from rugby and we needed to plan his comeback very carefully. He has worked extremely hard, and is in great shape.”
Muir believes Skinstad will add significant value to the Sharks.
”He is a very clever player and an exceptional leader. He has fantastic game-breaking skills, but it would be unfair to expect him to immediately hit the heights he was at when at the peak of his game.”
Auckland Blues have a tough New Zealand derby with the Wellington Hurricanes in the national capital on Saturday and are in great early season form.
The Blues got up on the final siren last weekend to knock over the ACT Brumbies in Canberra 17-15 and coach David Nucifora is encouraged by his team’s bold start to the season.
”A big focus of our preparing the side was to start well,” Nucifora said.
”We had to get out of the blocks well because that hasn’t been a habit of ours in recent seasons.”
That is even more important with the New Zealand teams missing their All Blacks — held back for conditioning ahead of the World Cup — for the first half of the competition and not expected to be
up with the early pace.
”It’s nice to be sitting at the right end of the table when the All Blacks return. If you have points on the board and fresh players, that’s a good position to be in,” Nucifora said.
Six-time champions the Canterbury Crusaders, making do without their star All Blacks Richie McCaw, Reuben Thorne, Dan Carter and Aaron Mauger, will play the first of their three South African tour matches against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Crusaders went down to the Blues on the opening weekend, but bounced back with a 33-22 win over the Queensland Reds at home, so wins in South Africa will greatly boost their hopes of another Super rugby title.
The Lions’ hopes will not be helped by the continued unavailability of Springbok flyhalf Andre Pretorius, whose torn hamstring has not yet fully healed.
The big Australian game this weekend is Queensland Reds at home to the ACT Brumbies in Brisbane on Saturday.
The Reds will be without forwards enforcer Hugh McMeniman, out for six weeks with an ankle injury, but coach Eddie Jones said he is looking for a fully committed effort to unsettle the Brumbies, who look vulnerable after throwing away victory against the Blues last start.
”We just need a team that’s absolutely committed to getting stuck into the Brumbies,” said Jones, a former coach of the Brumbies.
”Teams that generally do well against the Brumbies are teams that get physical with them and we’ll pick a team along those lines.”
The Reds have just one win over the Brumbies in 12 matches and have generally been outplayed at the breakdown and burnt out wide.
In this weekend’s other games, the Western Stormers host the Waikato Chiefs in Cape Town, the Bulls take on the Force in Pretoria and the Central Cheetahs play the NSW Waratahs in Kimberley. — Sapa-AFP