Sharks have reason to be wary of Western Province

Sharks assistant-coach Sean Everitt said an improved Western Province will ask serious questions of their ability in Saturday’s Currie Cup final at King’s Park.

John Dobson’s side have been the only team to beat the Sharks at home and the manner in which they went about their business in October was convincing.

That win snapped the Sharks’ 10-match unbeaten streak even though they were safe in terms of hosting a home semifinal.

The Sharks bounced back from the 31-20 defeat against their striped coastal rivals to beat the Blue Bulls 37-27‚ setting up another Durban/Cape Town Currie Cup final installment.

The sides swapped the hosting of Currie Cup finals in 2012 (Durban) and 2013 (Cape Town) with the travelling side being the victors on both occasions.

“Western Province have improved over the season. At some stage‚ they were out of the playoffs but they worked hard to get into second place and get the home semifinal‚” Everitt said.

“They put in a good and determined effort against the Golden Lions in the semifinal but we can’t forget what happened in the first 30 minutes of the game we played against them.

“We were well and truly on top of them in that first half-hour so that’s a positive we’ll take from that game and learn from our lack of energy in the second half. In a final you have to play for 80 minutes and that’s going to be our goal.

“We know it’s a final but we have to treat it like it’s any other game. We haven’t changed much this week but there’s a lot of detail that needs to be put in for the plans we have in place for Western Province.”

Everitt confirmed that wing S’busiso Nkosi will miss the final because of a dislocated elbow suffered in the win against the Bulls.

However‚ the Sharks still have Curwin Bosch‚ whose currently unflappable temperament saw him slot 17 points from his accurate boot.

With Bosch's battle against his coach’s son‚ Province's Robert du Preez Junior‚ set to become the focal point of the final‚ Everitt said the Sharks flyhalf’s game management has played a crucial role in the team’s surge to the final.

“Curwin’s definitely got the temperament. Just look at the drop goal in the second half‚” he said.

“That was a good example of that. We were under the cosh at that particular juncture of the game‚ only up by four points and Curwin gave us the seven-point buffer.

“He’s come on very well this season and we like how he’s improved his attacking play. He’s always had a good kicking game but his attacking game has improved immensely.”