The Vodacom United Rugby Championship takes a breather following the conclusion of round 14, with the EPCR Challenge Cup Round of 16 taking place this weekend and the quarter-finals scheduled for the following weekend, before the VURC resumes later in April.
For the Hollywoodbets Sharks, title-holders of the Challenge Cup and the first South African team to achieve this remarkable feat, this weekend presents the opportunity to take a step closer to double-glory.
After hosting Irish giants Leinster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park this past weekend, the Hollywoodbets Sharks take to the road this week ahead of Sunday’s Round of 16 clash against Lyon Olympique Universitaire, better known as Lyon.
The Durban side join fellow South African teams the Vodacom Bulls and Emirates Lions in the first of the knock-out rounds, all three playing away from home, with the Toyota Cheetahs and DHL Stormers unfortunately not making the cut.
Lyon are halfway down the French Top 14 league table with nine wins from their 20 fixtures in the 2024/25 season and come into the Challenge Cup knock-outs having defeated Cardiff, Zebre and the Toyota Cheetahs in their pool match campaign, with one loss, going down 52-24 to Connacht, the Pool A winners.
In comparison to this time last season, the Hollywoodbets Sharks have certainly taken tangible strides forward. Although knocked out of the EPCR Champions Cup this year, last year they hadn’t qualified for that elite competition. They are in the running for the double in the Challenge Cup, and in the calendar year now passed, they have won the Currie Cup and Challenge Cup tournaments.
They also boast an enviable home record at Hollywoodbets Kings Park and currently sit in fourth place on the VURC log when last year they finished in the bottom half. More growth is underlined by their record in the South African Shield, not winning a single game against local opposition in the 2023/24 season, but this year coming first and earning more silverware.
“The challenge for me is to keep improving the squad, getting the strongest players we can into our squad and that’s what we’re going to be working hard on for the next couple of years,” head coach of the Hollywoodbets Sharks John Plumtree admits of the ambitious plans the team holds dear.
“We’re getting there, we have some good youngsters coming through and we’re ambitious, we want to win a big trophy and right now, we’re still in the [VURC] competition.
“We need to make sure that we play very good rugby when the URC returns and we tour Edinburgh and Ulster away.”
They take on Edinburgh on 18 April, followed by a trip from Scotland to Ireland to take on 6th placed Ulster, before returning home for their final two pool games, hosting the Welsh duo of Ospreys and then Scarlets on successive weekends in May.
They also hope to welcome back some of the big guns in the near future as they continue to build something special.
