SHARKS captain Andre Esterhuizen with Phatu Ganyane.
Image: BACKPAGEPIX
The Sharks go into Friday night’s match at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh with the fading pulse of a dying man, as defence coach Joey Mongalo described the team’s aspirations of making the United Rugby Championship quarter-finals.
Coach JP Pietersen agreed, saying, “Some hope is better than none.” True, but when you look at the points table, it is the same as saying if you don’t have a lotto ticket, you have no chance of winning.
The Sharks are currently 11th in the standings, 11 points behind the Bulls in eighth, with just three rounds left to play.
But faint URC hopes or not, the Sharks have to deliver a better performance to quieten the growing voice of protest from their fans.
The Sharks are almost certainly out of the URC race to eight; they are already out of the second-tier Challenge Cup, which adds up to a dismal return for the season.
The Sharks’ unimaginative attacking is probably the area they most need to improve, so it adds spice to this fixture that the new attacking coach joining Pietersen next season is, in fact, the current Edinburgh attack coach, Scott Mathie. The latter coached Durban High School and Griquas, and a lifetime ago played against Pietersen when Mathie was scrumhalf at Griquas.
Also look out for former Sharks hooker/flank Dylan Richardson, who is on the bench for the host team. In other South African connections, also on the Edinburgh bench is prop Boan Venter, who is finishing up in Scotland to join the Lions, while the starting loosehead is former Bull Pierre Schoeman.
Edinburgh: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mosese Tuipulotu, 12 Findlay Thomson, 11 Malelili Satala, 10 Cammy Scott, 9 Hector Patterson, 8 Tom Currie, 7 Freddy Douglas, 6 Glen Young, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Ross Thompson, 23 Jack Brown.
Sharks: 15 Zekhethelo Siyaya, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Andre Esterhuizen (captain), 12 Siya Masuku, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Jean Smith, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Manu Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Hanro Jacobs, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Phatu Ganyane. Replacements: 16 Eduan Swart, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Nick Hatton, 21 Siya Kolisi, 22 Bradley Davids, 23 Marnus Potgieter.
Referee: Ben Breakspear (Wales) Assistant referees: Rob McDowell (Scotland), Jonny MacKenzie (Scotland) TMO: Keith David (Wales)
Date: Friday, April 2026
Kick-off: 8.45pm.