Fresh from being crowned EPCR Challenge Cup champions in London, the Hollywoodbets Sharks are fizzing to produce yet another champion performance against the Bulls today at home with which to conclude their Vodacom URC campaign.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks rewrote the record books last Friday night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by being crowned as South Africa’s first European rugby champions.
More significantly, the pride of Durban have also qualified for the next Investec Champions Cup competition by winning the EPCR Challenge Cup.
Eben Etzebeth, standing in for the injured Lukhanyo Am as captain, and Co achieved this in style during last Friday’s final against Gloucester, with the final score of 36-22 not being a true reflection of the dominance, especially upfront, enjoyed by the Durbanbased champion outfit.
The battle had already been won midway through the second half when the Hollywoodbets Sharks had established an unassailable 36-10 lead, while Gloucester
managed a couple of consolation tries at the death.
The English Premiership outfit also started the contest like a house of fire, applying enormous pressure during the opening 10 minutes. The Hollywoodbets Sharks, however, displayed meritorious defensive character to absorb the pressure.
Etzebeth highlighted character as the hallmark of not only the team’s performance in the final but also their entire Challenge Cup campaign.
“The motivation was from within the team,” Etzebeth observed after the final.
“To turn things around the way we did, from where we had been five months ago, was fantastic. There was a massive drive to win the Challenge Cup as a silver lining to our season, which hasn’t been great.
“If you had told us at the start of the season that we would win the Challenge Cup and qualify for the Champions Cup, we would have taken it.
“The victory was special; it felt like we had left the best for last. The guys were just incredible, and the physicality was great.
“This is the first international trophy that the Hollywoodbets Sharks have won and to become the first South African to win in Europe is one of my best memories ever.”
Spearheaded by their famed Springbok front row of Man of the Match, Vincent Koch, Bongi Mbonambi and Ox Nché, the Hollywoodbets Sharks once again annihilated the opposition at scrum time, which was no doubt a source of great pride to head coach, John Plumtree.
“TO TURN THINGS AROUND THE WAY WE DID, FROM WHERE WE HAD BEEN..."
“We wanted to apply a lot of pressure up front as we had anticipated it to be their strength, so by taking that away, we knew we would be in with a good chance,” Plumtree explained.
“I thought the scrum was outstanding, the front row’s drive was excellent, and they earned the rewards for it. The same goes for the pressure from our kicking game.
“Our approach was based around scoreboard pressure, which we had to keep building, and credit to the guys for sticking to the plan.”
The newly crowned Challenge Cup champions are returning home to Hollywoodbets Kings Park, intent on delivering more of the same today in their final Vodacom United Rugby Championship outing of the season, against the Bulls, currently South Africa’s top-placed URC side in second place behind Munster.
Having only turned 22 this past Monday, 2.03 m-tall Corné Rahl is one of the biggest and brightest young prospects in the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ arsenal. The promising second-rower has consistently delivered on the physical effort required up front for the men in black over the past couple of seasons, and it comes as no surprise that he regards Bok bruisers, Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit, as his role models.
Born in Durbanville and raised on a farm near Montagu in the Klein Karoo, Corné Rahl grew up supporting the Stormers.
“I was passionate about rugby from an early age and as I grew older became fascinated with the play of Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit,” Rahl recalls.
“Eben and Pieter-Steph were my ultimate heroes and embodied to me what rugby, and, specifically, lock play was all about. Their work ethic and sheer physicality appealed to me.
“Watching them play, especially during the Rugby World Cup 2019, in Japan, was a huge inspiration. It made me dream about a future in the game; I wanted to follow in their footsteps.”
Rahl was educated at the prestigious Hoër Landbouskool Oakdale in Riversdal, which is also the alma mater of another Springbok lock and Sharks legend, Johann Muller.
Oakdale facilitated the young Rahl’s ambition to forge a career path in rugby.
“Even though we didn’t always have the same numbers, Oakdale were able to compete with the big rugby schools,” he says.
“Oakdale helped lay a solid foundation for my career on the way forward and helped me to shape my game. The dream became more of a reality, I became more self-motivated and my love of rugby, together with the incredible support of, amongst others, my mother, is the reason why I am playing rugby professionally these days.”
Rahl represented South-Western Districts at the Craven Week and also gained selection for SA Schools and the Junior Springboks. However, he ended up in The Shark Tank, not with the Stormers, after leaving school.
“I had received offers from both the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Blue Bulls, but the moment that I’d set foot in Durban I just knew that I belonged here.”
The big, young lock made rapid progress in his new environment, with the first major breakthrough being his Currie Cup debut, at 19 years of age, against the Pumas in Mbombela two years ago. Boeta Chamberlain nailed eight penalty goals on that occasion for the Hollywoodbets Sharks to win 24-10.
“Being selected for the Currie Cup squad opened doors for me and provided an opportunity to prove myself,” he says.
“It was also special since I grew up watching Currie Cup rugby; it is traditionally South Africa’s premier domestic competition.”
Less than a year later, the Hollywoodbets Sharks selected 20-year-old Rahl to start in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarter-final against Leinster on May 6, 2023, in Dublin. Despite the eventual 5-35 loss at the hands of the Irish club rugby giants, it was a day that Rahl would never forget.
“It was an incredible experience, contesting the quarter-final against one of the best
club sides in the world at an iconic venue like Aviva Stadium. I just soaked up the incredible atmosphere; it was a childhood dream that came true.
“Naturally, it was also a massive learning curve, coming up against such a clinical outfit like Leinster; they are just so accurate, with no room for error.”
Following the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ magnificent EPCR Challenge Cup conquest, Corné Rahl is living the dream in The Shark Tank, and locking the scrum with one of his childhood heroes to boot.
“Eben (Etzebeth) is the best lock in the world, so just being in the same environment as him and being able to learn from and get to know him means everything to me. I couldn’t have wished for a better mentor.
“As for the team, we didn’t enjoy a great start to our URC campaign but we stuck together and managed to come good in the Challenge Cup. That was most special and showed what the Hollywoodbets Sharks are all about.”
BORN: 06/02/1992 HEIGHT: 2.01 m WEIGHT: 119KG
BORN: 30/05/1999 HEIGHT: 1.86 m WEIGHT: 105KG
BORN: 17/07/1999 HEIGHT: 1.92m BORN: 20/04/1994 HEIGHT: 1.81m
17/01/1993 HEIGHT: 1.79 m WEIGHT: 94KG
104KG
113KG BORN: 8/10/2000 HEIGHT: 1.81 m
BORN: 15/01/1999 HEIGHT: 1.83 m WEIGHT: 106KG SCRUM-HALF
BORN: 30/07/2002 HEIGHT: 1.76m WEIGHT: 79KG
APHELELE FASSI
WERNER KOK
ETHAN HOOKER
FRANCOIS VENTER (C)
EDUAN KEYTER
SIYA MASUKU
CAMERON WRIGHT
PHEPSI BUTHELEZI
VINCENT TSHITUKA
JAMES VENTER
GERBRANDT GROBLER
CORNE' RAHL
VINCENT KOCH
HEAD COACH
JOHN PLUMTREE
MANAGER
TREVOR BARNES
BONGI MBONAMBI OX NCHE FEZ MBATHA
NTUTHUKO MCHUNU
KHWEZI MONA
LAPPIES LABUSCHAGNE
DYLAN RICHARDSON
BRADLEY DAVIDS
BOETA CHAMBERLAIN
DIEGO APPOLLIS
KICK OFF 16H10
REFEREE
MORNE FERREIRA
WILLIE LE ROUX
CANAN MOODIE
DAVID KRIEL
HAROLD VORSTER
KURT-LEE ARENDSE
JOHAN GOOSEN
EMBROSE PAPIER
CAMERON HANEKOM
ELRIGH LOUW
MARCO VAN STADEN
RUAN NORTJE (C)
RUAN VERMAAK WILCO LOUW,
JOHAN GROBBELAAR
GERHARD STEENEKAMP
EVAN LLOYD
AKKER VAN DER MERWE
SIMPHIWE MATANZIMA
FRANCOIS KLOPPER
REINHARDT LUDWIG
NIZAAM CARR
KEAGAN JOHANNES
CHRIS SMITH
SEBASTIAN DE KLERK
ASSISTANT REFEREES
CWENGILE JADZWENI & DYLEN NOVEMBER
MARIUS JONKER
MANAGER
BORN: 09/04/1997 HEIGHT: 1.91 m WEIGHT: 126KG
BORN: 30/12/1997 HEIGHT: 1.83 m BORN: 20/07/1994 HEIGHT: 1.85 m WEIGHT: 103KG WEIGHT: 126KG
BORN: 01/05/1998 HEIGHT: 2.01 m WEIGHT: 119KG
BORN: 20/11/1999 HEIGHT: 1.95m WEIGHT: 112KG
HANEKOM
BORN: 15/02/1999 HEIGHT: 1.96 m WEIGHT: 97KG
BORN: 05/11/2002 HEIGHT: 1.91 m WEIGHT: 87KG
BORN: 18/10/1989 HEIGHT: 1.86m
WEIGHT: 90KG
BORN: 10/05/2002 HEIGHT: 1.88m
BORN: 25/07/1998 HEIGHT: 2.00 m WEIGHT: 112KG WEIGHT: 112KG
BORN: 06/05/1999 HEIGHT: 1.93m WEIGHT: 111KG
BORN: 25/04/1997 HEIGHT: 1.69m WEIGHT: 77KG
BORN: 17/06/1991 HEIGHT: 1.78m
WEIGHT: 108KG
BORN: 18/10/1998 HEIGHT: 1.82m
WEIGHT: 123KG
BORN: 07/09/1999 HEIGHT: 1.89m
BORN: 04/04/1991 HEIGHT: 1.78m
BORN: 27/10/2002 HEIGHT: 1.98m WEIGHT: 108KG WEIGHT: 112KG
BORN:27/11/1999 HEIGHT: 1.76m
BORN: 07/05/1999 HEIGHT: 1.80m
BORN: 27/07/1992 HEIGHT: 1.85m WEIGHT: 80KG WEIGHT: 90KG
BORN: 11/11/1993 HEIGHT: 1.89 m WEIGHT: 98KG
BORN: 18/09/1994 HEIGHT: 1.88m
WEIGHT: 123KG WEIGHT: 87KG WEIGHT: 91KG
BORN: 05/04/2000 HEIGHT: 1.80m
WEIGHT: 80KG
At 21 years of age, Ethan Hooker is already a champion, having made, in barely three years, the transition from Westville Boys High School’s Bowden's Field to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, scene of the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ epic EPCR Challenge Cup triumph last Friday.
Hooker, at outside centre in place of the injured Lukhanyo Am, was one of the standout performers in the final, as the Durban-based side eclipsed Gloucester to the title. Apart from being a vital cog in the defensive alignment, he beat the second-most defenders (3) and delivered an all-round accomplished performance.
Having made his Vodacom URC debut last year against Connacht, Hooker exploded on the scene this year with a Man-of-the-Match display against Ulster and hasn’t looked back since.
David Kriel is amongst the top six try-scorers in the current edition of the Vodacom URC with a tally of seven, which includes a scintillating hat-trick against Zebre in Parma last year.
Moreover, the rangy three-quarter has appeared on the Springbok radar over the past six months with a consistently high level of performances for the Bulls, South Africa’s top-placed outfit in the URC at present. Originally a winger or fullback, Kriel (25) has of late starred in the Bulls’ midfield, both at inside and outside centre.
Incidentally, Kriel’s dad, Gerhard Kriel, played flanker for Crusaders in Durban North during the early nineties, alongside Sharks legends like Hugh ReeceEdwards, Dick Muir, Tony Watson and Steve Atherton.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks last Friday not only clinched their first international title, but they also became the first South African side in history to be crowned champions in a European league. The men in black thoroughly deserved their EPCR Challenge Cup triumph, and the match and season stats prove it…
Did you know:
* The Hollywoodbets Sharks scored the most points (292) and the most tries (36) during the EPCR Challenge Cup tournament.
* Siya Masuku scored the most points (21) in the Challenge Cup final and second-most points (71) during the tournament. Masuku also boasts the best goal-kicking percentage (87.5%) in the tournament.
* Aphelele Fassi made the most metres (66) and second-most carries (13) in the final, and third-most metres (499) and third-most carries (85) in the tournament.
* Phepsi Buthelezi beat the most defenders (4) in the final, while Ethan Hooker was second with three defenders beaten.
* James Venter made the second-most tackles, both in the final (17) and the tournament (85).
* Makazole Mapimpi scored the second-most tries (6) and made the second-most line breaks (13) in the tournament.
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