Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell believes his side has what it takes to go “all the way” in the United Rugby Championship (URC) despite being on the edge of qualification.
The Durban side sit in eighth position and face ninth-placed Benetton this weekend at Kings Park with their eyes only on a victory.
Must-win
The Sharks need to win both of their last two games to give them a chance at going deep in the URC play-offs, and Powell is under no illusion of the task ahead.
“It is a must-win two weeks for us,” Powell said. “It is the same for Benetton to keep them in a run for the play-offs. They will come with everything they have. They have their Italy internationals with them and are playing a good brand of rugby.
“We understand how important this game is for them, but it’s the same for us. We can finish anywhere from fifth to eighth. The guys are really keen to be successful and give ourselves the best chance of going into the Champions Cup [next season] and URC quarter-finals.”
Last weekend the Sharks got bundled out of the Champions Cup by French giants Toulouse but Powell believes his team has what it takes in the URC.
Good enough to claim the title
While the Sharks will resume their URC campaign on the back of a quarter-final loss away to Toulouse, Powell still believes his side is capable of winning the tournament.
“We were hoping to win against Toulouse and get into the [Champions Cup] semis. We still believe we can go all the way in the URC, and have the squad to do it,” he said.
“If we get into the quarter-finals, we know we will play all the playoffs away. We only have two more games guaranteed against Benetton and Munster. We saw against Toulouse, that playing away in knockout game is tough.
“We want to give ourselves the best opportunity to play for the cup.”
More to come
The coach believes the Springboks are starting to settle after returning from their alignment camp and expects more to come from his side.
“This is only the third game since the Springboks have returned,” he explained. “We haven’t seen the best of this team and there were a lot of positives in the Toulouse game. We are building momentum. We know there are kinks to fix, especially with our defence and we did speak about it.
“We are getting momentum and, hopefully, keep that towards the end of the season. We do believe we can get ourselves into a URC final.”
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