Stormers defence coach Norman Laker has heaped praise on Sharks head coach JP Pietersen for the turnaround he’s engineered in Durban.
The Sharks are unbeaten after the opening two rounds of the new URC season and completed “the double” over the Stormers in the competition last season. Now they’re aiming for a hat-trick of wins over their coastal rivals when the two sides clash in round three in Cape Town on Saturday.
Those back-to-back wins coincided with Pietersen taking over the head coaching position from John Plumtree after a tumultuous start to the 2025-26 campaign.
“The Sharks are a quality outfit,” Laker told the media on Monday. “JP Pietersen has done a phenomenal job with the Sharks. Since he took over, they’ve beaten us at Cape Town Stadium so what he’s done has been phenomenal. We have a lot of respect for him and I don’t think they’ll move off what they’re doing because it’s working for them.”
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Despite the respect for their rivals, Laker is confident the Stormers’ returning Springboks will slot seamlessly back into the team’s system, with the bulk of the group having been part of the setup for years.
“Most of the guys except Siya [Kolisi] and Wilco [Louw] have been with us for a very long time. Guys like Zach Porthen, Deon [Fourie], Paul de Villiers, Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu], Damian [Willemse] – they all know the system. I don’t think it’ll be an issue,” he said.
“Obviously we’ve worked on some things in the pre-season which we had identified last season that we can be better at. They’re clever rugby players – Springboks for a reason – and I’m 100% sure that they’ll get the one or two tweaks we’ve made to our system.”
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The Stormers wrapped up their European tour with a win and a loss, a return Laker is satisfied with despite missing out on a win in a close encounter in Scotland last Friday night.
“Obviously we would’ve wanted to beat Edinburgh, but under the circumstances to get six from a possible 10 log points on tour is not the end of the world,” he said.
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
The post Laker: JP’s Sharks revival deserves respect appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Stormers defence coach Norman Laker has heaped praise on Sharks head coach JP Pietersen for the turnaround he’s engineered in Durban.
The post Laker: JP’s Sharks revival deserves respect appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
