Sharks braced for Bulls backlash

The Sharks are bracing themselves for a Bulls' backlash in Saturday's Super 14 all South African derby at Loftus and are preparing for a full frontal assault from the home team when they cross the "Biltong Curtain".

The Sharks have managed to go through the opening two rounds unscathed in the confines of the Absa Stadium, but for the first time this year they will hit the road.

It is a moot point whether the Bulls are ripe for the taking after their 54-19 trouncing against the Crusaders last week, because the Pretoria men have a penchant of lifting their game in the face of adversity.

It is also worth considering that this is a derby and previous scores are meaningless as it is blood and guts rugby that usually prevails.

"When you play any South African team in the Super 14, it's a big derby match," Sharks No 8 Ryan Kankowski told the Sharks website.

"You're always out to prove who is the better team. But especially after last year's Super 14 final, and with the Bulls losing so badly to the Crusaders, I think they are really going to come at us, so it's definitely going to be a tough match."

"We've worked really hard and hope the boys can step up on the weekend."

The Sharks certainly know how to grind out wins.

They showed the killer instinct against the Western Force and Stormers, as they out grappled their opponents in the Durban humidity.

It hasn't been pretty stuff, but at the end of the day eight log points are better than none.

"A tough win is something you really had to work for," said Kankowski as he spoke about the Stormers and Force triumphs.

"We did well to come back and showed a lot of guts to pull through (against the Stormers); we have a great team where the guys are all working hard for one another."

The one area which is going to be a colossal battle, is the collisions among the forwards.

The Sharks might just edge the Bulls in the scrums with tight-head prop Brendon Botha likely to dominate Gurthro Steenkamp, while fellow Springbok Jannie du Plessis gets a start at loose-head ahead of Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira as the visitors have gone for scrummaging power rather than mobility.

There is an injury cloud over hooker Bismarck du Plessis, and should the explosive front ranker not recover from his tender ribs, then Skipper Badenhorst will be heralded into the run-on XV.

The lineouts should be evenly contested between Johann Muller and Bakkies Botha and Keegan Daniel will look to teach Wickus van Heerden about being a true fetcher flank in open play as the youngster gets a rare start ahead of Jacques Botes.

Expect the Bulls to do plenty of "one out running" as they have picked a brutal loose trio who will crash the ball up in the flyhalf channel all night long in an attempt to punch holes in the Sharks defence.

Pedrie Wannenburg and Danie Rossouw aren't known for their guile, so expect spades of direct running as they crash the ball up.

If the Sharks pack can set up a decent platform for their backs to launch, the likes of Francois Steyn and JP Pietersen will be able carve up the Bulls.

There's no question that the Sharks have more variety in their game plan and the conditions will suit free running style, as the Crusaders showed last week.