It might amp up interest in the game but if the Hollywoodbets Sharks get hit extra hard by their Sale Sharks opponents in Saturday night’s Investec Champions Cup clash at the CorpAcq Stadium they will have the owner of the franchise to thank.
Marco Massotti has long lamented the fact that Sale also call themselves the Sharks, something that would never have been a problem when the two sides played in completely different competitions. But subsequent to the Durban version of the Sharks switching from the southern hemisphere Super Rugby competition to the Vodacom URC, which means participation in the Champions Cup, that has changed and Massotti has made public before his dissatisfaction at the clash in branding.
In this week where the two teams play each other for the first time, he aired it again via his social media accounts. Massotti said initially that his New Year wish for 2026 was that his team would turn the Sale Sharks into the “Sale Tuna” and then continued when there was blowback from Sale.
The boss leading from the front 🫡 pic.twitter.com/OTIf8y5das
— The Sharks (@SharksRugby) January 6, 2026
“I will be there watching in person. I hope the Sale fans show up to see the real @SharksRugby. There can be only one. Good luck to the Sale Tuna,” wrote Massotti on X.
And the Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson has seized on the opportunity to use it as a tool to drive up the motivation of his players ahead of a game that is crucial to determining which of the two teams will be in the frame to get out of Pool 1.
The top four in each Pool go through to the round of 16 that starts the knockout phase of the elite European competition in April and the Sharks are currently fifth, with five points, and Sale are one point ahead of them in fourth.
“We will lean into that,” Sanderson told the English media. “Do they respect us as an organisation? Questionable, certainly from the top. I will have that in the back pocket, those lads who are on social media might want bragging rights. You’ve got to find something every week that pushes buttons. There’s enough there for us this week.”
Sanderson’s side shouldn’t need extra motivation as they already know that a bonus point win will be enough for them to progress to the knock-out stage of the Champions Cup. That one point lead they enjoy on the Durbanites, who finish off their Pool phase campaign against Clermont-Auvergne at Hollywoodbets Kings Park the following weekend, is crucial. In the sense that if Sale do win and score five tries, the Sharks will be under severe pressure in their quest to advance.
With a proper seven day turnaround this time as opposed to the six days that separated their opening clash with Toulouse, where the Sharks went in under-strength, and the home game against Saracens, there is no reason why the Sharks shouldn’t be fully loaded for this fixture. Meaning that they have Springbok stars such as Siya Kolisi, Ox Nche, Andre Esterhuizen, Aphelele Fassi and Grant Williams playing.
However, with the South African teams having a history of going under-strength for many away Champions Cup games for logistical reasons, there has been understandable speculation in the English media over what side the Sharks will send for the game. Sanderson says he’s preparing for the first choice Sharks team and given the confidence Massotti portrays in his social media posts he’d be right to do so.
“We’re planning for the best, you have to,” said Sanderson. “They haven’t had a good run of results and they will want to get some pride back in the jersey.”
The Sharks won the first two games they played after JP Pietersen took over from John Plumtree as head coach - against Saracens and the Vodacom Bulls - but suffered a setback when they lost at home to the Lions in a Vodacom URC derby last weekend. That loss has left them with just two wins in eight starts and they are languishing in 14th position on the URC log.
Sale aren’t fairing that much better as they are currently seventh out of 10 teams on the Premiership log. In the English team’s case though that might add to the motivation for Saturday’s game as this is around the time of the season that the overseas teams decide which competition to prioritise. There is no promotion-relegation system in place in England like there is in France but Sale are out of the running for the domestic trophy.