Let’s end tour on a high

Andre Esterhuizen has called for the Sharks to muster a big performance against a highly motivated Ulster outfit at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday night. 

John Plumtree’s charges tackle the Ulstermen in round 16 of the Vodacom URC. Fresh off a narrow win in Edinburgh, where Esterhuizen’s physical presence earned him the Man of the Match award, the hulking centre says the Sharks are focused and ready to finish the northern tour on a high.

“We arrived in Belfast on Sunday, had a good week in Edinburgh and obviously took a lot of learnings from there,” he said.

“We trained Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday off and probably have a small captain’s tomorrow [Friday] but our training’s been good. Boys look focused and ready for the task ahead.

“The mood in the camp is great, everyone is in good spirits and like I said, we’ve been having a good tour so far,” Esterhuizen added.

The Sharks are currently fourth on the log and a victory over an injury-hit Ulster side could consolidate their place in the race to the playoffs.

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It’s Ulster’s final home game of the league stages and they are expected to be without several key players, including SA-born Ireland hooker Rob Herring, centre Stuart McCloskey and livewire fullback Michael Lowry.

“Ulster is obviously going to be a big, big game. It’s a massive game for them, their last home game and obviously they’ll be very amped up,” Esterhuizen said.

“It’s going to be hard, physical and fast. They’re obviously a great attacking side and our defence needs to be on point.”

With conditions expected to be wet underfoot, Esterhuizen expects the Sharks to adjust accordingly: “Weather’s looking quite good. It might be a little wet on Saturday, which changes the conditions a bit but we’ll adapt and we’re ready for anything.”

After a patchy performance in Edinburgh, the Springbok thumper says accuracy and execution will be key to closing out the tour with a win.

“We also need to be sharp on our attack to execute all our opportunities to be successful over the weekend and put an end to a successful tour. We’re all looking forward to the game.”

Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images