A world-class cavalry of 11 players — including Siya Kolisi and a battle-ready Eben Etzebeth — will be back for the Sharks when the URC resumes next week. Photo: Backpagepix
Image: backpagepix
Scarily for the Sharks, it is more than possible that their season has just four matches to run despite the European season ending in late June.
That is their reality, given that they are in 10th place on the United Rugby Championship (URC) standings and last week exited the EPCR Challenge Cup in Galway against Connacht. If the Sharks make the URC play-offs, it will be by the skin of their teeth, and it requires the massive focus they can give it now that they don’t have the “distraction” of the Challenge Cup.
Yes, winning that trophy — as they did in 2024— would have given them a passage into next season’s Champions Cup, but having understood that all of their play-offs would be overseas — and at the same time they would have to make sure they win their URC games — they have pinned their colours to the URC mast.
The Sharks have decided to focus on one of the two routes that were open to them to the Champions Cup rather than dilute their resources. The Sharks understand fully that if they don’t qualify for the URC play-offs, it will be a final nail in a disappointing season in which they sank out of the current Champions Cup into the Challenge Cup, and failed in that “also-rans” tournament.
Perhaps forcing the Sharks’ hand in deciding which competition to focus on has been their crippling injury list, notably to influential players. Most on that list were not available for the trip to Ireland, but will be when the URC resumes. For the Sharks, that is against the Ospreys next weekend in Wales.
For that match, coach JP Pietersen will have back from injury Siya Kolisi, Bongi Mbomambi, Grant Williams, Jordan Hendrikse, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Emile van Heerden, Jurenzo Julius, Marvin Orie, Jason Jenkins, and, perhaps most significantly, skipper Andre Esterhuizen.
The latter is not known to be injured, and it could well be that he was simply rested for the Connacht match once Pietersen knew the team would — in any case — be weakened by injury, so why not give Andre the Giant a break?
Further, the Connacht match was the rust-breaker for Eben Etzebeth after 12-weeks of suspension. The Bok bruiser had to go on that trip to get him going again. He had a good workout and will be much better for having that match under his belt.
If you add those players coming back to some of the players who went to Ireland — Ox Nche, Vincent Koch, Makazole Mapimpi, Vincent Tshituka, Edwill van der Merwe, Ethan Hooker — the Sharks suddenly look world-class. And they will have to be because for Top 8 qualification they must beat the Ospreys and Edinburgh away, and then Benetton and Zebre in Durban.
And they have to win well, picking up bonus points along the way, while hoping that at least two of the teams ahead of them falter in the final four rounds. As it stands, the gap between 10th and eighth is seven points, which is just short of two wins.