The Hollywoodbets Sharks return to Vodacom United Rugby Championship action at the weekend in a lowly 13th position on the log and with a tough game against Connacht at a forbidding venue in Galway.
However, while it hasn’t been a good start to the season for the Durban side, and there were ructions at the end of the first phase of the URC when it was confirmed that John Plumtree would be moving out of his current head coaching role into a new position at the end of the current campaign, the Sharks did win the last game they played.
While the 29-19 win over the Scarlets was far from as emphatic as would have been hoped against another underperforming team in the competition, it did bring the points for a win and the bonus point for scoring four tries.
Another win then would mean they go back-to-back with their successes for the first time in the season and that will see them lift higher up the log.
The Sharks will be without the bulk of their Boks but they have been boosted by the return of a regular member of the national team’s top starting 23 to the mix this week.
Grant Williams, who brought significant impact off the bench in the Boks’ big games on tour, has been released from the Bok group currently in Cardiff for Saturday’s game against Wales.
Wing Edwill van der Merwe, who flew home to Durban to be at the birth of his child, is reportedly also travelling with the Sharks to Ireland, while another Bok wing Makazole Mapimpi has now completed the four game suspension he received following his red card in the loss to Ulster in the fourth round.
Vincent Tshituka, expected to captain the side in the absence of Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi, says the Sharks have benefitted from having five weeks off since the Scarlets game and believe the connections built in training over the past few weeks will help the team against a Connacht team that he admits will be difficult opponents.
“We all know Connacht are a quality side and extremely tough to beat away from home,” said Tshituka, who made his Bok debut against the Barbarians at the start of the 2025 international season.
BIG GAME FOR BOTH SIDES
Connacht went into the season with big expectations as former England coach Stuart Lancaster, who had a successful career as a senior assistant at Leinster before moving to France last year, has taken over as head coach.
However, they haven’t fared much better than the Sharks, although it needs to be taken into account that their one point advantage over the Sharks on the log, 12th to the Durban team’s 13th, is with a game in hand.
It is a big game for Connacht too then, as the winner of the clash at The Sportsground will determine which of the two teams will come back after the opening rounds of the two EPCR competitions, the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Champions Cup, with some breathing space heading into the traditional festive season derby phase of the season.
To Tshituka, the position Connacht are in just makes them more dangerous as opponents.
“They haven’t started the season the way they wanted, but that just gives them more motivation. We know exactly what we are facing,” said the loose-forward.
The same applies in the opposite direction, and Tshituka believes the break after the slow start was just what the Durbanites needed in order to regroup.
“We’ve put in the preparation, we’ve got a solid plan, and as a team we are excited about the challenge,” he said.
“It’s been really good to have a bit of time off and actually prepare properly for this challenge. The guys have put in a lot of hard work to fix the errors from the beginning of the season, and there’s been a really positive vibe going into this game.
“The last few weeks have been about connecting as a team. It has been a really tough start, not what we expected or wanted, and the only way to bounce back is to pull together and put in the work. That’s exactly what we’ve done and we hope to reap the rewards.”
HEAD TO FRANCE AFTER GALWAY
After the Connacht game the Sharks head to France where they will face last year’s beaten finalists, the mighty Toulouse, in their first Champions Cup fixture.
That game will take place on a Sunday, meaning that there is just a six day turnaround after that before the opening home European game against Saracens on 13 December, a game the Sharks are eager to do well in.
The logistical challenge will probably mean coach Plumtree selects an under-strength team for the Toulouse game as Saracens will arrive in Durban before the Sharks do.
Plus of course Boks who will have been heavily engaged in the five match tour that is completed by Saturday’s out of the international window game against Wales will need some rest ahead of a tough stage of the franchise season, with the Sharks hosting the Vodacom Bulls in their first URC derby of the campaign the week after Saracens visit.