Pete Wilkins has no concerns that the reduced capacity at the Dexcom Stadium, which hosts its first competitive game of the season when Connacht meet recently-crowned Currie Cup champions the Sharks next Saturday (kick-off 7.35pm), will dilute the stadium’s atmosphere.
The Clan Terrace has been demolished and the North Stand is being redeveloped into a three-tier stand featuring terracing, seating and hospitality, while work also continues on the new offices, high-performance centre and half-sized indoor pitch.
Ahead of Saturday’s game, which is a 4,217 sell-out, Wilkins said: “It’s three-sided and the side with the old Clan Terrace is just hoarding now so it will be different. I’m not concerned, and I say that with full respect for the really special atmosphere that was always generated by the Clan Terrace.
“But I think the key thing is that we’ll have the same supporters in the building. They might be in a slightly different spot but they’ll be there with all the energy and passion as usual. And I think the other key thing is us, our performance as a team. If we can give them enough to get excited about the atmosphere will take care of itself.
Connacht’s back three options have been reduced by Chay Mullins being called up in place of the injured Shayne Bolton on the Emerging Ireland tour, although Wilkins believes it will further develop the former Ireland Sevens winger.
Lock Joe Joyce has already been ruled out with a knee injury, but Santiago Cordero will play against the Sharks after recovering from the jarred knee he sustained late on in last Saturday’s 35-33 loss to Munster.
Wilkins and Connacht took plenty of encouragement from sharing five tries and returning with two points, including their first attacking bonus point ever in Thomond Park.
The heartbeat of Connacht’s display was their new halfback pairing of debutants Ben Murphy and Josh Ioane, and Wilkins has been reinforcing to them that much of what they did well “was going after the simple things within the game, facilitating us playing fast, kicking at the right times, kicking accurately. In Ben’s case it was speed of service and in Josh’s case it was taking the right options.”
Ioane will have to adapt to worse conditions and apply his kicking game more, although Wilkins cites the generally quicker ruck ball in the southern hemisphere as a bigger factor, “because there’s a greater contest for the ball in the northern hemisphere. Its all-out warfare at times around the attacking breakdown.”
He also highlighted “the greater intensity of line speed up here in the north as well”, but Wilkins has been impressed by how quickly Ioane has adapted.
“He’s got experience at going directly between programmes with the All Blacks or New Zealand Maori. He’s been with a couple of different Super Rugby franchises, so he can pick up playbooks quickly and pick up styles of game quickly. Part of the reason he got the start last week was how rapidly he’s absorbed some of the lessons he’s learned at training, and he’ll only be better for that Thomond Park experience.”
With Mack Hansen and Cordero also in harness for the first time, and Bundee Aki to return in round three or four, Wilkins admitted it’s a balancing act to accommodate so much X-factor in a structure.
“It’s knowing that there is a team flow, there is a team shape, but then within that framework those guys have licence to pick off the moments and express themselves. It will be something we’ll be watching with interest, I suppose, to see how it evolves now that we’ve actually got those guys playing alongside each other. And I think as it clicks in patches in games you’ll see the excitement it can generate.”
The former Irish forwards coach John Plumtree included all but two of his match day 23 from last Saturday’s Currie Cup final in his 27-man squad which left Durban on Monday for their three-match tour.
The Sharks have played a dozen matches since July in the Currie Cup, overcoming three initial defeats with an unbeaten nine-game charge to the trophy. Their semi-final ended 40-40 after extra time at altitude in Loftus Versfeld last Saturday week – the Sharks progressing by dint of scoring six tries to four – and they won a dramatic final 16-14 win away to the Lions in Ellis Park last Saturday with the last kick of the game.
“To have come to Joburg for the final, lost and then hop on a plane for Ireland wouldn’t have been great,” said Plumtree. “Fortunately that’s not the case.
“We’ve found belief but it’s going to be tough emotionally and physically getting off this high. The other job for me now is getting the players back down to earth because we know what a tough game we have in Galway. Connacht will be waiting for us, they’ll be excited about playing at home.”
Although missing 10 current Springboks the Sharks are still laden with stardust, such as World Cup-winning prop Trevor Nyakane, the former Munster locks Gerbrandt Grobler and Jason Jenkins following his arrival from Leinster. They can also call on powerful 18-times capped Springboks centre André Esterhuizen, who has rejoined after four years with Harlequins, and once-capped fullback Jordan Hendrikse, who kicked the 60-metre penalty to win the final last Saturday.
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