Hollywoodbets Sharks loosehead Retshegofaditswe “Ox” Nche believes the side’s senior Springboks will make a big impact as they gear up for Friday’s EPCR Challenge Cup final against Gloucester in London.
The World Cup-winning front ranker, one among several World Cup-winning Boks in John Plumtree’s squad, says the players are placing massive significance on the decider as they look to become the first South African team to win a European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) competition and book their spot in next season’s Champions Cup.
“Everyone is focused and excited. It’s serious for me because it’s something we’ve never done as a union and it’s going to be a big challenge for us.
“We’re taking in the same intensity and the seriousness of it because we could be the first team to actually win a European title, so for us it would be an amazing reward if we did it.”
On sharing his previous experiences on the Test stage with the younger players in the group and looking ahead to the forward battle, Nche remained measured in his response.
“We try to implement it as much as we can, and obviously there is a different manner of doing thing because you’re working with different guys and it’s a different environment [from the Bok set up].
“You try to [keep] players calm and [help] guys focus on what they do and not the event itself, to actually help the team. I think that is our biggest task at the moment to make sure everyone isn’t getting bombarded by such a big stage that they’re playing on.
“It’s going to be a good challenge because they maul pretty well and defend mauls pretty well, so I’m looking forward to it. If we win the set piece battle, it’s going to be an exciting game.”
The Durban franchise occupies 13th in the URC in a season that has been far from ideal, but Ox believes a change in perspective has been the catalyst for the side to put themselves in a position to win major silverware.
“The only thing we had to change was the mentality. I knew we had the players and the skillsets, it’s just the mentality that had to change and actually back ourselves [and believe] that we’re all good enough.
“You have guys that are experienced and also pretty open-minded and willing to learn, so you get the best of both worlds. Not a lot of guys have the privilege to say, you know what, you’re playing with guys that have won the World Cup twice or have played over 100 games at international level. It makes a big difference and it helps a lot.”
