{"id":917129,"date":"2026-10-05T15:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/917129\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T15:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:44:09","slug":"jp-pietersen-on-why-he-was-quite-nervous-about-springboks-sharks-return-and-opens-up-on-unreal-start-to-urc-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/917129\/","title":{"rendered":"JP Pietersen on why he was ‘quite nervous’ about Springboks’ Sharks return and opens up on ‘unreal’ start to URC campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sharks<\/a> head coach JP Pietersen has praised his returning Springboks stars and described his side\u2019s fine start to their 2026\/27 United Rugby Championship (URC) season as \u201cunreal\u201d.<\/p>\n

This, after they clinched back-to-back bonus-point victories at home against the Ospreys and defending champions Leinster in their first two URC matches.<\/p>\n

That means that the Durban-based outfit are sitting pretty atop the competition\u2019s table with a full house of 10 points, one ahead of Cardiff, the Lions and Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

Although it is still early in the season, Sharks<\/a> fans will be delighted with their team\u2019s excellent form after they finished in 10th position in the URC<\/a> standings at the end of the 2025\/26 season.<\/p>\n

Springboks bolstered Sharks\u2019 matchday squad<\/p>\n

After clinching a 41-24 triumph against the Ospreys in their season opener, the Sharks were bolstered by the return of several Springboks and Pietersen<\/a> recalled captain Andre Esterhuizen, Edwill van der Merwe and Thomas du Toit to his starting line-up while Ox Nche, Eben Etzebeth and Ethan Hooker were among the replacements for the clash against Leinster.<\/p>\n

Pietersen admits to having pre-match nerves about adding his Springboks contingent to his matchday squad but is delighted that his selection gamble paid off as the Sharks secured a hard-fought 26-20 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was quite nervous before the game. We only had one training session with them, on Thursday,\u201d he told reporters after the Saturday\u2019s triumph over Leinster.<\/p>\n

All the Sharks\u2019 returning Boks made valuable contributions in their triumph against Leinster with Esterhuizen and Van der Merwe scoring crucial tries which secured a bonus-point for the Sharks.<\/p>\n

Van der Merwe and Etzebeth combined brilliantly in the build-up to Esterhuizen\u2019s five-pointer, which Pietersen revealed he knew little about, while the former crossed the whitewash in the game\u2019s dying moments<\/p>\n

\u201cThey never looked off,\u201d added the head coach. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know what was happening and Andre scored.<\/p>\n

Sharks v Leinster: Five takeaways as Springboks stars \u2018at the forefront\u2019 of hosts\u2019 onslaught in memorable win over champions<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Edwill van der Merwe finished it off with that intercept try. It shows what they bring.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Springboks do what they need to do\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest of the group is all about doing the right thing, letting the system work. And the Springboks do what they need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

After missing out on last season\u2019s URC play-offs, Pietersen admitted that he is pleasantly surprised by his side\u2019s outstanding start to their new campaign.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see I\u2019m stuttering, I\u2019m still processing that we won two and have 10 points. It\u2019s unreal,\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDurban is special. You need to earn it to come win here. It\u2019s humid.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday there were some unorthodox tries that came against the run of play. That is what Durban gives you, the Durban vibe.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a collective we told ourselves \u2018It\u2019s our home and we don\u2019t want to concede points and we don\u2019t want teams to come and get easy wins against us\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks face another tough task on Saturday when they take on the Stormers in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Leinster: British and Irish Lions star in timely return but Ireland duo set for \u2018further assessment\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sharks head coach JP Pietersen has praised his returning Springboks stars and described his side\u2019s fine start to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,396960,44,760,1042,85,134441],"class_list":["post-917129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-jp-pietersen","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sharks","tag-sports","tag-united-rugby-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}