The Sharks Women are gearing up for next weekend’s titanic rugby battle against the table-topping Bulls Daisies in the Women’s Premier Division, fresh off a six-try mauling of the EP Queens.
The Sharks beat the visitors 40-7 in the scorching Pietermaritzburg heat on Saturday. The Sharks delivered a solid performance, controlling most of the game and using their territorial dominance and possession well.
Three first-half tries confirmed their dominance and although the Queens scored first in the second half, the comeback was short-lived with three more tries by the hosts.
Springbok flyhalf Mary Zulu scored 15 points as she once again dictated play for the Sharks.
“A 40-point win, I’m happy with that. The girls did phenomenally, especially in those conditions in Maritzburg,” Sharks Women’s head coach Jason Hector said on Sunday.
“It was some of the most brutal heat I’ve experienced in a rugby season.”
Hector was willing to forgive a “couple of skill errors” that had crept into their play in the energy-sapping conditions.
“I think the girls showed definite buy-in to our different philosophies for our kicking game, how we want to play when we have ball in hand,” he said, focusing on the positives.
“The tempo was definitely there on defence; we got a double hit on what we wanted to accomplish there.”
The Bulls Daisies trampled all over the Boland Dames in Wellington, beating the home side 50-22 at Boland Stadium at the weekend.
The Daisies are now the only undefeated team left in the Women’s Premier Division.
The Sharks coach is under no illusions about the task that awaits them in Pretoria.
It could be a case of out of the Pietermaritzburg frying pan and into the Loftus fire for the KZN team.
“They’re top of the table. They’ve obviously had some good results in the last three weeks. I think they haven’t scored less than 50 points, if I have it correctly, so they’re on quite a roll,” Hector said.
“And having to travel there is going to be quite a challenge. But I think it’s a challenge our girls are looking forward to.”
The defending champions have already put 209 points on the board in three rounds of play, scoring 33 tries while conceding just five.
The question of whether anyone can stop the marauding Bulls is already being asked this early in the season.
“It is a juggernaut team, there’s no doubt about it. I think they’ve got more than 20 Springboks in their team, if I have it correctly,” Hector said.
“And they’re fully professional. I think every girl in that team is contracted. This is their full-time job while our ladies are obviously career women and they also study.
“So I think that we’re definitely going in as the underdogs. I think that it will be an opportunity for us to measure ourselves up against the best.”
The Sharks Women are admittedly in a rebuilding phase. However, there are shoots of progress in their early results.
They began their campaign with a narrow 17-6 loss to Border Ladies away before securing home wins over Free State Women (36-30) and the EP Queens.
They are third in the table.
“It’s new coaching staff, a lot of new faces, a lot of new girls, a new style of play so this test will be interesting to see how our girls handle our game model under pressure. What bigger pressure than to take on the Bulls at Loftus,” Hector concluded.