Dance of the Desperados: Sharks and Bulls face off as Bafana chase AFCON dream

A good way of describing the festive season crunch clash between the Sharks and the Bulls at Kings Park on Saturday evening is a “Dance of the Desperados”.

The visiting Bulls have lost their last four matches while the Sharks have won just two of their eight games, although they are coming off an encouraging Champions Cup victory over the London team, Saracens, last week.

The Sharks’ new captain is the sledgehammer “Andre the Giant” Esterhuizen. The massive 2m tall, 118kg backline player has been the talk of the rugby world because of his blockbusting exploits for the Springboks on their recent tour of Europe.

Esterhuizen doesn’t run around opponents; he obliterates them in head-on collisions.

Hence, he has been given the leadership reins of the team despite the presence of Springbok captain Siya Kolisi. Esterhuizen has been tasked with rampaging from the front.

Esterhuizen believes his team has turned the corner and will beat the Bulls because of the frank conversations he had with the players after an inauspicious start to the season cost seasoned coach John Plumtree his job as head coach.

“We have had a lot of honest conversations,” Esterhuizen said. “The players understand that they have to take accountability for everything that has happened.

“We needed a reset and a plan for the players to follow as a team, not individuals.”

The Sharks’ new coach, the former Sharks and Springbok JP Pietersen, is a former teammate at the Sharks of today’s Bulls coach, Johan Ackermann.

The pair played in the same Sharks team for five years in the first half of the 2000s. Now they go head-to-head as opposition coaches.

Ackermann said, “I love coming back to Kings Park. I know my former teammate, JP, too well — he is going to have a hot reception waiting for us. JP knows the culture of the Sharks better than anyone.

“The Sharks are desperate, the Bulls are desperate, so that adds up to what should be a classic South African derby.

Ackermann added, “The Sharks will want to cash in on the heat and the humidity by working us around the field, but I must be honest, the weather is not as bad as it has been previously.

“Usually, when you get off the plane, you are floored by an overwhelming wave of humidity.

‘It pushes you into the ground, but maybe all the rain in KZN has cooled things down, and I hope it doesn’t get hotter come game time,” the Bulls coach continued.

“But whatever the weather, these teams will cook up some dramatic rugby. That is guaranteed.”

On the football front, Bafana Bafana, South Africa’s national football team embark on a significant journey at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco. The weight of history rests heavily on the players as they seek to reclaim the coveted title that has eluded them for nearly three decades.

The last and only time the national team raised the illustrious AFCON trophy was in 1996, a triumph that resonates with every South African football supporter and remains vividly ingrained in the national consciousness. 

Captained by the legendary Neil ‘Mokoko’ Tovey and guided by the inspirational coach Clive’ The Dog’ Barker, this team made history on home soil, and now, three decades later, hope is renewed.

This year’s squad, under the leadership of goalkeeper Ronwen Williams and seasoned coach Hugo Broos, is aiming not just for participation but for a prominent place in the tournament’s annals.

Broos, who has an impressive pedigree after leading a lesser-known Cameroonian squad to the 2017 AFCON title, brings a wealth of experience and tactical acumen to the team. Should Broos win AFCON with Bafana, he will join a list of only three coaches to win the the tournament more than once (SEE PAGE 20).