The eternal rivals, the Sharks and the Bulls will square off in another Super 14 match this weekend, in the third round of Rugby's Super 14, both attempting to prevent recent glory days from ebbing away.
The Sharks have won their first two Super 14 matches, but only by narrow margins. Sharks 17, Western Force 10. The second match: Sharks 12, Stormers 10.
The Bulls won their first Super 14 game, but returned to Pretoria last week to a devastating loss of 54 - 19 by the Canterbury Crusaders.
The Bulls didn’t perform too well in their last Super 14 match, and they will obviously still feel the humiliation by their performance. But, traditionally the Bulls respond well to adversity.
Their captain Fourie du Preez remains confident that the Bulls can recover from last week’s rugby mess, which has definitely damaged their previously formidable home advantage. But, they have been in this position before. Luckily the Bulls team has a lot of character and he is confident that they can get back on track. The Sharks coach, Dick Muir, is also expecting an improvement from the Bulls.
The Sharks coach is also expecting that his team will show definitive improvements on their recent performances.
The Sharks will be challenged on Saturday to keep up their (thus far) Super 14 winning record, ideally to recover their running game and to win more emphatically than they have in rounds one or two. The Bulls simply have to win, to pull away from the scrum of teams in the middle of the table and join the tournament pacesetters.
This Super 14 rugby match will be played at Loftus, which is the Bulls home ground, and their favorite ground the play.
Other Super 14 rugby matches this weekend will include games by the Crusaders against the Stormers on Friday, and the Blue against the Cheetahs on Saturday.
So we are eagerly waiting to see what will happen this weekend...
Keep an eye on the Super 14 Rugby blog if you can't get near a TV this weekend, and for an update next week.
