The Sharks and Stormers have been dealt blows to their chances of winning their European Champions Cup quarter-finals even before the first whistle has been blown. Yet, their opponents’ coaches this weekend have installed both as favourites against their teams.
Neil Powell’s Sharks are up against Toulouse, the team that beat the Bulls last weekend, while the Stormers are up against English side Exeter Chiefs. Both matches are on Saturday.
And while both the Sharks and Stormers recorded good wins in their last-16 matches last weekend — against Munster and Harlequins respectively — and will be confident, both outfits suffered setbacks before even departing to Europe earlier this week.
Setbacks
The Sharks got the bad news that they will be without key players Eben Etzebeth and Jaden Hendrikse, who were both injured in last weekend’s match, while the Stormers’ flight plans were thrown into disarray, meaning they could only leave South Africa many hours after their scheduled departure time — and then via several stops along the way.
The good news is that both the Sharks and Stormers are in good form and possess experienced players who shouldn’t be too concerned about ‘curve balls’.
Favourites
Toulouse coach Ugo Mola, for one, believes the Sharks are favourites to beat his team and go all the way in the competition.
“We have six days to prepare for this match against a team which, currently, is perhaps the ultra-favourite for the competition,” Mola was quoted by RugbyRama.
“I haven’t often seen Munster explode and shatter like this (against the Sharks) during a European match.”
Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter also started the psychological battle earlier this week when he declared the Stormers winners of their match even before kick-off.
“I know many people will not give us a chance against them,” said Baxter to the Champions Cup website.
“They dealt with Harlequins pretty easily and Harlequins dealt with us pretty easily two weeks ago, so that’s it … game over.”
Then Baxter said: “But that is quite a nice place to start from for us. We are not going to physically change much this week.
“We have just got our emotional batteries recharged.”
‘Men from boys’
It is clear that both the home teams, Toulouse and Exeter Chiefs, are playing mind games before their matches. But, as Bulls boss Jake White said this week, it is now at this stage of the European competitions that “the men get separated from the boys.”
And, so it is now that the Sharks, who’ll have the memory of legendary coach Ian McIntosh driving them in Toulouse, and the Stormers, who’ll be keen to show why they are URC champions, stand up and deliver performances that will make Europe and world rugby take notice.
A big weekend lies ahead for the Sharks and Stormers, with SA rugby’s reputation on the line.
The Toulouse-Sharks match kicks off at 4pm, while Exeter host the Stormers at 6.30pm.
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