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United Rugby Championship

URC: Hollywoodbets Sharks confident they will bounce back at Cardiff

The Hollywoodbets Sharks will be looking to put their European disappointment behind them when URC service resumes against Cardiff at the Arms Park on Saturday.

Sharks

The Hollywoodbets Sharks will be looking to put their European disappointment behind them when URC service resumes against Cardiff at the Arms Park on Saturday.

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

The men in black and white were knocked out of the European Rugby Champions Cup after copping a 66-12 drubbing at Bordeaux-Begles on the weekend and will now be out to defend their EPCR Challenge Cup crown when they face Lyon at the Stade Gerland in the round of 16 in April.

For now though, attention has returned to the URC where, encouragingly, the Durbanites occupy fifth spot on the table. They will have an opportunity to leapfrog their opponents this week with a big enough win, with Cardiff currently sitting in third, just four points better off.

With this weekend’s matchup being the first of three consecutive URC away games for the Sharks ahead of visits to Pretoria and Johannesburg, it’s imperative they come away from the Welsh capital with something in the way of log-points.

Cardiff vs Sharks

“We know that this week we have a tough task ahead of us, especially coming from a defeat in Bordeaux,” said Sharks hooker Bongi Mbonambi on Wednesday. “We know that we have a lot of work ahead of us to make sure that we at least come back home with a win on tour. This game is definitely going to be a big one against a quality side.

“[It’s] definitely been a disappointing week we had at Bordeaux, but we’ll forget about that, put it behind us, learn our lessons. We’re just refocusing on the URC.”

The hosts are currently without a win in their last three games after drawing at home to Ospreys in the URC (13-all) before falling to Challenge Cup defeats at Perpignan (23-20) and Connacht (19-28 in Cardiff). Still, Mbonambi and his teammates aren’t expecting things to be easy.

“It’s going to be a tough clash as Cardiff are doing very well in the URC and they’re a quality side with some quality players. So we definitely have to do our homework and make sure that we come up with a plan that will give us the result that we need.”

Kick-off is at 19h15.

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