Coenie keen to mentor Sharks props

Du Plessis’s departure from Durban not only meant the loss of a quality player, but he took with him a wealth of knowledge gained from years of international experience. With so many young props blossoming at the Sharks, the Union needed another experienced campaigner to nurture their development.

One couldn’t ask for a better replacement than Oosthuizen, who brings more beef and mobility to the Sharks pack. He also gleaned years of knowledge from Du Plessis during their years together in the Springbok camp and Oosthuizen hopes to pass that on to the upcoming props at the Sharks.

Speaking ahead of their first Super Rugby clash against the Southern Kings, Oosthuizen said one of his big roles this year will be mentoring the Sharks props.

“We’ve lost a couple of great guys and I’ve got some big shoes to fill. I think Jannie was an immaculate rugby player – we used to joke that he was like Google, it doesn’t matter what you need to know he always had the answer,” Oosthuizen said.

“Looking back at my time with him, I learned a lot and I hope to implement that in Super Rugby.”

Oosthuizen will be looking to impart that wisdom on the likes of Gerhard Englebrecht, Juan Schoeman, Mzamo Majola and Thomas du Toit – all youngsters with promising futures ahead of them.

“That is the main objective at the end of the day. Coming from a different union, you still need to establish yourself. If you can be the person others look up to, and if they respect your opinion, you’d become a role model for them.”

Reflecting on their preseason matches in France, Oosthuizen believes valuable lessons were learnt. The wet weather kept things tight, which put a spotlight on the Sharks forward pack. Considering the number of new faces that featured, the Durban outfit produced a couple of good performances.

“Looking back at those two games, you can say it was a learning curve. Where the game is a bit more structured, if you lose your set piece game, you can’t get things going and we realised that during those games. Most importantly, we looked at where our fitness, scrumming and set pieces were at.”

With a final week of preparations behind them, the Sharks are fully focused on their first Super Rugby clash. Bookies may well fancy the Sharks to run away with a big win, but the Durban outfit are not taking the Kings lightly – even if the Port Elizabeth outfit have had to work through a tumultuous few months.

“In any environment you would like to start with a bang – but you can’t look past the fact that the Kings will also want that,” Oosthuizen said.

“Playing against the Cheetahs last week, they will have realised where their mistakes were. They’re definitely going to come out firing. I don’t underestimate them at all; we’re going to have a hell of a game this weekend.”

Kickoff is at 15h00 on Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

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