Hollywoodbets Sharks vs Cardiff Rugby

GETTING BACK ON TRACK

WORDS: ALBERT HEENOP

The Hollywoodbets Sharks encountered a little speed bump last Saturday, but measures are already in place to get back on track as swiftly as possible ahead of this coming Friday’s big EPCR Challenge Cup final in London. Part of the process involves returning to winning ways in the Vodacom URC against Cardiff tonight.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks suffered a narrow 24-25 loss in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship at the hands of Italian outfit, Benetton, last Saturday.

Benetton substitute, Jacob Umaga, nephew of All Blacks’ legend, Tana Umaga, scored a late try, after the home side had conceded a red card for head-on-head contact in the tackle, and converted himself to keep the Italians’ hopes of a top-eight finish in the URC alive.

Hollywoodbets Sharks’ coach, John Plumtree, emphasised the need for his team to maintain momentum ahead of next week’s EPCR Challenge Cup showdown with Gloucester at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the Durban-based side appeared to be doing just that during the opening half an hour of their encounter with Benetton.

live with us. However, we gave away unnecessary penalties, which allowed them to start building pressure.

“We certainly lost momentum with some key players coming off.

“The red card ultimately cost us the game. It gave them the necessary territory, we were one man down and they were good enough to score.

“We’re not too downhearted about the narrow loss, though. We have the Challenge Cup final coming up, which will be massive for us, so we are not losing track of where we’re heading.”

Plumtree’s charges will no doubt want to maximise today’s outing against Cardiff to regain their rhythm ahead of the decisive encounter with Gloucester on Friday.

The boys built up a handy lead of 12-3 with a couple of tries and an adventurous approach of attacking, running rugby.

Thereafter, however, they seemed to relinquish a bit of momentum, no doubt also due to losing a few key players to injury, while Benetton started staging their spirited comeback shortly before the break.

“That was the frustrating part of it, losing players through injury,” Plumtree admitted afterwards.

“One was hoping to get through that match unscathed and that everything would simply fall into place. It didn’t work out like that, though.

“We played some excellent rugby at stages and initially it looked like Benetton could not

“WE LOOKED NERVOUS DURING THE FIRST 45 MINUTES AND GIFTED THEM TOO MANY..."

The visitors from Wales also come off a loss in the URC, having kicked off their tour of South Africa with a rather comprehensive 13-34 defeat against the Lions in Johannesburg last weekend.

Cardiff nevertheless made the Lions work extremely hard for the bonus-point victory, which was only secured late in the second half through a sensational brace of tries by substitute flanker, Emmanuel Tshituka, the younger brother of Hollywoodbets Sharks loose forward, Vincent Tshituka, who is also Durban-bound next season.

Following tonight’s match against Cardiff, the Hollywoodbets Sharks have one more regular fixture left in the URC, when they host the Bulls at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on June 1.

NOTSHE NOTCHES HALF-TON

Sikhumbuzo Notshe will play in his 50th international tournament game for the Hollywoodbets Sharks in the Vodacom URC match against Cardiff tonight. Despite injury setbacks, the six-test Bok No. 8 has been a hard-grafting loyal servant of the men in black since he arrived in Durban five years ago…

Having been sidelined for the best part of a year due to a serious knee injury, Sikhumbuzo Notshe last season recaptured the industrious form that rendered him one of the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ stars during the table-topping 2020 Super Rugby campaign, which unfortunately had to be aborted due to Covid-19.

He was particularly impressive during last year’s Investec Champions Cup win against Munster and quarter-final loss to Toulouse, where his ball-carrying ability and telling defence came strongly to the fore.

“The Super Rugby season of 2020 was indeed memorable, and it was such a shame that it had to be cut short because of the pandemic,” Notshe says.

“For me, though, the Champions Cup quarterfinal against Toulouse was the ultimate. Just to have been involved in a top tournament like the Champions Cup was a great experience.

“A Champions Cup playoff game is probably the closest that one can get to test match rugby.”

The Hollywoodbets Sharks suffered an agonising start to their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign this season, yet have recovered sensationally well and restored heaps of pride over the past couple of months.

Notshe believes that the remarkable resurgence has to do with finding the right balance between experience and youthful exuberance.

“Coach John Plumtree has introduced a good culture since his return, a culture that values pride in the jersey and work ethic more than anything else,” Notshe says.

“It is tough, however, when the results don’t go your way. The start to our URC campaign was one of fine margins, with too many losses but not any massive scores against us.

“The effort was there, the boys put in the hard yards, but individual mistakes, a missed kick here and a wayward pass there, cost us.

“The moment that our Springboks returned, there was an improvement. The Boks, most of whom were star performers at Rugby World Cup 2023, simply add so much experience and value to the cause and tend to uplift the entire group.

“The Boks also rejoined at exactly the right time, with the injection of confidence that they provide leading to the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ fine form in the EPCR Challenge Cup.”

For Notshe, though, his sole focus today is on making sure that his team return to winning ways in the URC.

“It is important that we do well against Cardiff tonight. From a team perspective, the Hollywoodbets Sharks need to re-establish the authority that has become our hallmark over the past couple of months, while, individually, a good performance in tonight’s URC encounter can pave the way for possible participation in next Friday’s big Challenge Cup final against Gloucester in London.”

Since arriving from the Stormers two seasons ago, Sikhumbuzo Notshe has certainly accelerated his career at the Hollywoodbets Sharks and, on the occasion of his half-century of caps in black, the 30-year-old has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

05/05/2001

1.98 m BORN: 28/05/1993 HEIGHT: 1.86m WEIGHT: 110KG WEIGHT: 105KG TIAAN FOURIE BORN: 22/04/2002 HEIGHT: 1.79m WEIGHT: 77KG

DIEGO APPOLLIS

BORN: 27/08/200 HEIGHT: 1.80 m WEIGHT: 86KG

BORN: 3/04/1997 HEIGHT: 1.81 m WEIGHT: 82KG BOETA CHAMBERLAIN BORN: 22/02/1999 HEIGHT: 1.84 m WEIGHT: 83KG

DAN JOOSTE BRAAM REYNEKE

BORN: 21/02/1999 HEIGHT: 1.87 m BORN: 21/08/2002 HEIGHT: 1.88m WEIGHT: 105KG WEIGHT: 126KG BORN: 4/04/1997 HEIGHT: 1.90 m

PRINSLOO THOMAS DYER NICK HATTON BRADLEY DAVIDS

BORN: 16/11/2004 HEIGHT: 1.92m BORN: 17/01/2003 HEIGHT: 1.80m BORN: 30/07/2002 HEIGHT: 1.76m WEIGHT: 104KG WEIGHT: 87KG WEIGHT: 79KG YAW PENXE

ANTHONY VOLMINK

BORN: 10/02/1990 HEIGHT: 1.80 m WEIGHT: 86KG

HOLLYWOODBETS SHARKS

BOETA CHAMBERLAIN

YAW PENXE

DIEGO APPOLLIS

EDUAN KEYTER

APHIWE DYANTYI

LIONEL CRONJE

TIAAN FOURIE

SIKHUMBUZO NOTSHE

SIMON MILLER

TINO MAVESERE

RENIEL HUGO ( C )

CORNE' RAHL

KHWEZI MONA

DYLAN RICHARDSON

CAM WINNETT

JOSH ADAMS

REY LEE-LO

WILLIS HALAHOLO

GABRIEL HAMER-WEBB

BEN THOMAS

ELLIS BEVAN

ALUN LAWRENEC

JAMES BOTHAM BEN DONNELL

RORY THORNTON

SHANE LEWIS-HUGHES

RHYS LITTERICK

LIAM BELCHER

DIAN BLEULER

JOHN PLUMTREE

MANAGER

TREVOR BARNES HEAD COACH

DAN JOOSTE BRAAM REYNEKE

PRINSLOO

THOMAS DYER

NICK HATTON

BRADLEY DAVIDS

CURWIN BOSCH

ANTHONY VOLMINK

KICK OFF 18H15 REFEREE

FRANK MURPHY

COREY DOMACHOWSKI EVAN LLOYD

RHYS CARRE

KEIRON ASSIRATTI

SEB DAVIES

MACKENZIE MARTIN

TINUS DE BEER

JACOB BEETHAM

MASON GRADY

ASSISTANT REFEREES

GRIFFIN COLBY & STEPHEN GELDENHUYS TMO

EOGHAN CROSS

HEAD COACH

MATT SHERRATT

MANAGER

WILLIAMS

CARDIFF RUGBY PLAYER PROFILES

BORN: 20/11/1997 HEIGHT: 1.93 m WEIGHT: 114KG

BORN: 10/03/2000 HEIGHT: 1.80m WEIGHT: 88KG

CARDIFF RUGBY PLAYER PROFILES

BORN: 20/02/1986 HEIGHT: 1.91 m WEIGHT: 97KG

BORN: 28/12/2001 HEIGHT: 1.85m

WEIGHT: 112KG

BORN: 8/02/1998 HEIGHT: 1.91m

WEIGHT: 130KG

BORN: 7/01/2003 HEIGHT: 1.80m

BORN: 21/04/1995 HEIGHT: 1.83 m WEIGHT: 96KG TINUS

BORN: 17/05/1996 HEIGHT: 1.98m WEIGHT: 116KG WEIGHT: 117KG

BORN: 26/10/2001 HEIGHT: 1.96m

BORN: 18/04/2001 HEIGHT: 1.88m

WEIGHT: 87KG

BORN: 20/06/1997 HEIGHT: 1.83m

WEIGHT: 118KG

BORN:24/01/1996 HEIGHT: 1.76m

WEIGHT: 111KG

BORN: 29/03/2002 HEIGHT: 1.96m WEIGHT: 85KG

WEIGHT: 87KG

LIAM BELCHER (C)

LITTERICK

ELLIS BEVAN

COREY DOMACHOWSKI

SHANE LEWIS-HUGHES

JAMES BOTHAM

MACKENZIE MARTIN SEB DAVIES

JOSH ADAMS

REY LEE-LO

CAMERON WINNETT

RHYS CARRE EVAN LLOYD

KEIRON ASSIRATTI

JACOB BEETHAM MASON GRADY

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MAJOR MATCHUP MAVESERE VS BOTHAM

Zimbabwean-born Tino Mavesere was a standout performer for the young and inexperienced Hollywoodbets Sharks side that put up a spirited display against the top-of-the-table Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun last month.

Mavesere and Co went down 10-21 but gave the Warriors a terrific run for their money. Tenacious defence was the hallmark of that Hollywoodbets Sharks display, as they swamped the Scots, especially, in the second half, with 192 tackles. The openside flanker personally put his body on the line with 18 hits and was a constant thorn in Glasgow’s side at the breakdown.

Mavesere impressed with his relentless play during last year’s Currie Cup, too, prompting coach Joey Mongalo to observe: “With more like him in the team, you’ll never lose a match…”

Welsh international flanker, James Botham, follows in the footsteps of his father, Liam, who represented Cardiff in the nineties, while his grandfather is none other than England cricketing legend, Sir Ian Botham.

Educated at Sedbergh School in Cumbria, James Botham represented Wales U18, U20 and Sevens before winning the first of his 10 test caps for the Welsh senior side in 2020.

Having starred in Wales’ Six Nations triumph of 2021, Botham suffered a series of injury woes of late, but is back to full fitness and raring to stake a claim for the summer tests against South Africa, at Twickenham, and Wallabies in Australia.

FACTS, STATS & TRIVIA

SOME MORE

FASSI-NATING STATS

The Hollywoodbets Sharks might be out of the running as far as a possible top-eight finish is concerned in the Vodacom URC, yet some individual stats in the competition, particularly that of their highly popular "Weekend Special” at fullback, Aphelele Fassi, make for fasci-nating reading…

Did you know:

* Aphelele Fassi is top of the pile in two of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship statistic categories, namely clean breaks (22) and metres gained (1147).

* Fassi has also made the fifth most successful carries (75) and second most carries (175).

* In the match against Benetton last Saturday, Fassi made 10 successful carries, four clean breaks and gained 139 metres, and was duly named Man of the Match.

* Winger, Werner Kok, beat five defenders and scored a brace of tries against Benetton, fol-lowing on the scintillating hat-trick he had recorded against the Scarlets in his 50th game for the Hollywoodbets Sharks.

* Kok is jointly second on the URC try-scoring table with nine touchdowns to his credit, and just three tries adrift of top scorer, Johnny Matthews (Glasgow Warriors).

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