Beast – ‘We’re going to rectify matters’

Tendai Mtawarira has echoed Sharks coach Robert du Preez’s call for the senior players to step up ahead of the clash with the Jaguares on Saturday.

In the wake of the Sharks’ dull 9-9 draw with the Rebels on Saturday, coach Du Preez was particulary brutal on his senior players.

“We have a lot of experienced rugby players in our team as well and they should show some proper leadership,” Du Preez told the press conference after the game.

Mtawarira, a senior player himself having made 131 Super Rugby appearances for the Sharks and 87 appearances for the Springboks, is aware that he is one of the players Du Preez was alluding to and the experienced prop has called for a collective improvement.

“We are very disappointed in our performance (in drawing 9-9 with the Rebels at Kings Park),” the 31-year-old told Mercury.

“We are going to rectify matters. We had a heck of an analysis of that Rebels game and that has set the tone for the week.

“We have put ourselves in a position where this could be a season decider. We know exactly what we have to do.

“We must stick to our processes and then execute properly. Last week we could not finish anything.”

Meanwhile, the player known as ‘The Beast’ has called for cool heads in what is always a cauldron-like atmosphere at the Velez Sarsfield stadium in Buenos Aires.

“It is going to be tough there. It always is. I have played there many times for the Boks and a few times for the Sharks and it is a very different atmosphere,” he said.

“The crowd is hostile and very noisy. There is a lot of banging and shouting and the home team feeds off the emotions of the crowd.

“The trick is to not get side-tracked by the side-shows in the stands and rather feed off the atmosphere as the home team does, rather than be intimidated by it.

“They are going to come at us, make no mistake, but we have to make sure we are smart in how we play and don’t get sucked into playing to their strengths.

“Discipline is vital. We have actually been bringing our penalty count down over the season. The problem is that when we do get penalised, it is usually a card or something costly!”