Springboks: André Esterhuizen admits surprise at Toulouse’s decision : Planet Rugby

André Esterhuizen says he is surprised that Toulouse is sending a full team to face the Sharks in the Investec Champions Cup.

In particular, Toulouse made the decision to heavily rotate their squad for the Top 14 clash against La Rochelle on Sunday.

Ugo Mola’s young team put in a strong performance against their fellow French powerhouse, falling to a 22-19 defeat thanks to a late Antoine Hastoy penalty to decide the game which was tied in the 80th minute.

Antoine Dupont ready for the shark showdown

This suggests that Toulouse Top stars will be in action in Durban this weekend as defenders. Champions Cup The winners look to repeat the tournament, starting with an undefeated group stage.

Likely to be included in the traveling squad is France captain Antoine Dupont, who is set to make just his second appearance in the southern hemisphere, his only other appearance being his test debut against the Springboks, where he came off the bench. to play 27 minutes. .

With some of the best players France has to offer ready to spring into action and with so many Springboks up for grabs sharks‘roster, Esterhuizen predicts a “tough game” this weekend.

While the 30-year-old will miss the clash after suffering a knee injury against the Stormers following a poor disposal in a ruck, he is excited to watch the game.

“I’m not playing this weekend so it will be good to see. “There are a lot of big stars, big names playing in this game,” he said in The rugby capsule.

“Obviously it is always a difficult task in the Champions Cup. I thought Toulouse was going to send a second string (lateral), but it doesn’t seem like it.

“It’s the best players facing each other, it will be a difficult game and it will be good to see.”

Antoine Dupont prepares for his first appearance in the southern hemisphere in almost eight years

Not just participate

South African teams have been accused of not taking the Champions Cup seriously since they joined the competition, with the Bulls sending a weakened team to face Northampton in the play-offs last season.

Last time in the competition, the Sharks and Stormers were beaten by Premiership clubs after the second-choice teams were sent to the UK, while the Bulls were beaten by the Saints at home.

Esterhuizen says the Sharks take the tournament seriously and explained that only two players missed the tough loss to Leicester Tigers.

However, the team does not get carried away too much, as its first objective is to get a place in the play-offs.

“Obviously you don’t want to play in the Champions Cup just to participate,” he said.

“You want to get to the play-offs and be in a position to win the Cup, especially when you have signed quite a few big names. I mean, it’s the biggest competition in the world at club level.

“For us it’s about performing and qualifying for the round of 16 or the play-offs and from there we can take it and set new goals, but for us the first thing is to get there, which is the biggest.”

Andre Esterhuizen reveals the ‘strange’ aspect of playing in the north compared to Super Rugby

Home advantage is one of those goals, as the Sharks’ clash against Toulouse approaches a sell-out.

“Obviously we would love to (have home advantage in the play-offs), it’s not easy to come and play and especially in Durban in these conditions at the moment,” Esterhuizen continued.

“The ball is like slime in your hands when you start sweating and it’s wet and hot. But the thing is for us we probably would have sent a different team to Leicester if we didn’t have so many problems and injuries.

“I think of the ten players we didn’t send, eight were injured, so people think we don’t take the competition seriously.

“We obviously took it seriously, but we just didn’t have the players to make a full team.

“Obviously we want the home advantage and it’s still possible. Obviously we need to win the next two and get an extra point here or there. That is the main objective for us.”