Preview: The Cell C Sharks vs Hurricanes
The Hurricanes are missing three of their front-line players for this match, flyhalf Beauden Barrett has been ruled out of action for a month after suffering a grade two medial ligament tear to his knee during his team’s 29-23 win over the Crusaders last weekend.
The other two are wing Julian Savea and scrumhalf TJ Perenara who are not taking part in this match due to an agreement to rest All Blacks (which is similar to the situation in South Africa where key Springboks are given breaks during the course of the season).
For the Cell C Sharks, it’s all about rescuing pride. Director of Rugby Gary Gold spoke this week of the importance of putting on a good performance on Saturday. “The issue for us is that this is a matter of pride, of massive pride. We’ve let a lot of people down, we’ve let a lot of supporters down.”
For the odds-on favourites to finish the pool stages as log leaders in their quest for a maiden Super Rugby title, this match represents the opportunity to maintain their winning ways.
“The Hurricanes are not likely to ease up now,” said Gold, “especially when one considers how tightly-fought the New Zealand Conference is. The Hurricanes would be silly to even remotely take the foot off the gas and they’re going to play a team low on confidence, whose form has been particularly poor and they’re going to see that as blood in the water.
“We realise that the season is probably getting away from us and from our point of view, it’s a matter of playing for pride, week after week and showing our supporters that this jersey matters a lot to us. The performances have hurt us and we have to fix it.”
Hurricanes vs Cell C Sharks
Date: Saturday, 9 May 2015
Time: 09:35 (SAST) 19:35 (NZST)
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Super Rugby Head-to-head:
Played: 18, Hurricanes won: 7, Cell C Sharks won: 10, Drawn: 1
Match Officials:
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe, Mike Lash
Television Match Official: Aaron Paterson
Courtesy of The Sharks
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