I like this rugby read by my mate MIKE GREENAWAY

MIKE GREENAWAY

Sharks coach John Plumtree has not the slightest concern that inexperience in certain key positions in the Sharks team will be exposed in the high-pressure cauldron of Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup final.
At scrumhalf and flyhalf, the Sharks have young bucks and Currie Cup newcomers in Charl Mcleod and Patrick Lambie; Lwazi Mvovo is also in his first year while at inside centre Andries Strauss has been on the periphery for a few years and only now is commanding a starting position. Louis Ludik and Willem Alberts are new to the Sharks.
“We have not even talked about it – there has been no need to because it is not an issue,” the coach said. “The younger guys have fronted up in every big game we have played and the semi-final against the Bulls was as good a dress rehearsal as you could hope for in terms of pressure, intensity and physicality.”
In fact, a potential weak point in the eyes of some critics is actually a strong point for the Sharks. They are playing so well because they have uncovered new players, brought them through and they have delivered each week, bringing a fresh new dimension to the team’s game.
Lambie has been composed all year, whether at 15, 12 or 10, McLeod has been a revelation at scrumhalf with his snappy distribution and ability to attack the half-gap and then get his arms around the tackler to offload; Mvovo has scored 12 mostly marvellous tries in 15 games (second only to record-breaker Bjorn Basson) and has been playing so well that he kept Springbok Odwa Ndungane on the bench for the semi-final (when JP Pietesen returned on the other wing). Strauss? He has suddenly come of age after three seasons on the outer and is now living up to the hype that surrounded him when he came to the Sharks as a highly rated product of Grey College.
“I am backing our youngsters, they have shown they have calm heads when the going gets tough,” Plumtree said. “It helps that we have a group of senior players sprinkled about the team. The role of Stefan (Terblanche) in the backs cannot be over-emphasised, for example.”
There were 40 000 at the semi-final and there will be 12 000 more at the final to give the Sharks players a significant fillip.
It is known that 2000 tickets were allocated to Western Province and 500 of them were returned to the Shark Tank, so the vast majority of fans will be in black and white – unlike the 2007 and 2008 finals against the Bulls in the Super 14 and Currie Cup respectively, when Bulls fans poured down the N3 and took over the Stadium (six hours by car is cheaper than two hours by plane).
Terblanche said that he was encouraging the younger players to enjoy every minute of the build-up, not to mention the game.
“In my youth I played in three finals (1999 against the Lion and against WP in 2000 and 2001) and wished the week away, wanting to get into the final as soon as possible,” the captain said. “That was a mistake. You have to embrace the occasion because it unfortunately does not come around that often. I have told the guys to even write things down to capture the memories and also so they can revisit what worked and what doesn’t, should they be involved in future finals. My message this week is that we are the lucky ones that are working this week when all the other teams (apart from WP) have lost and are on holiday.”
Plumtree had a similar take on the rarity value of a final in Durban.
“We haven’t had too many finals in Durban in the past and whereas the Durban July horse race comes around every year, for example, having the Currie Cup final here is something you can’t guarantee, and it’s something special. I told the team before our semi-final against the Bulls that I’d be proud of them whether we won or lost because of the way we’ve played the game this year, and what we’ve done with a young group that has had more than its fair share of injuries over the season. But we stuck together and won the right to host a final, and that is a great prize, but it does not end there – we’re not running out the tunnel to make up the numbers against a side that is favoured to beat us. We will be there to win.”

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