Shark bait not on Canes’ menu
%26bull; Crowd sizes a sorry sight
Hurricanes flanker Jerry Collins took Sharks pivot Frederic Michalak for a tour of Porirua on Wednesday, while manager Tony Ward has had a cafes worth of coffee with his old coach, John Plumtree.
And both teams have been singing from the same songsheet as they talked about the pressure going into tonights Super 14 match at Westpac Stadium.
Both camps know the Hurricanes are desperate to win after last weeks loss to the Crusaders. They dont want to leave for South Africa tomorrow with two losses on the trot.
Equally, the Sharks are anxious to start their five-week tour to New Zealand and Australia with a win, keeping their unbeaten start to the season intact.
Its going to be a huge game - or a version of that - has been overused this week.
It does shape as a doozy of a contest, with two international-laden packs and backlines that enjoy using the ball.
Both have been off-key with the tryline elusive, the Sharks scoring only 120 points and the Hurricanes 121, each from six games.
The lack of points suggests tonights match could be a dour affair but both sides were talking up their hopes of using the ball.
Plumtree has warned the Sharks are yet to click and that they hope to do so on tour.
The key, he said, was momentum and to that end he is worried about the Hurricanes ability at the breakdown.
Its no secret we have to be very accurate at the collision or we wont get any momentum and theyll get plenty.
The Sharks will try to stay on their feet to achieve that as they can be a formidable driving side - as the Hurricanes learned to their cost in Durban last year.
But the Hurricanes could have an edge as the match progresses. The trip from South Africa is exhausting and if the Hurricanes can play at pace they should have the legs on the Sharks.
The flipside of that, however, is that the Hurricanes error count remains unacceptably high and their patience with the ball is almost non-existent.
When the Hurricanes are patient and allow their ability to offload in the tackle and run in support to come through naturally, they are virtually impossible to stay with.
But when they force things, as they have too often this year, they produce a haphazard style of off-the-cuff rugby.
For the superstitious, the Hurricanes have a few things in their favour.
The first Super rugby match played at Westpac Stadium was against the Sharks and the Hurricanes won 40-23.
The Hurricanes have also never lost two games in succession in the same season at the ground and the Sharks have never won seven consecutive games in a season.
And referee Paul Marks has controlled three Super 14 games this year with the home side winning all three.
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Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 7:02 pm under