As if there wasn’t already a lot riding on their clash with the Emirates Lions at Kings Park on Saturday from a conference viewpoint, with the two teams topping the Africa 2 Conference pool in the African conference, what happens on Sunday adds even greater importance for the Sharks to get a positive result. For they will be departing then for a three match tour of New Zealand.
This is a year where it is supposed to be easier for South African teams from a travel perspective, but the Sharks have drawn the short straw. The week after they play the Lions they face the Blues in Auckland, followed by the Highlanders in Dunedin and then the Chiefs in Hamilton. All of those teams are playing well at home this season.
Then they return to South Africa for one game at Kings Park against the Hurricanes before climbing back onto a plane and heading to Buenos Aires for their clash with the Jaguares a few days later. A tour from hell? It’s hard to imagine anything tougher.
And it was knowing how tough it would be from now that prompted the Sharks to go all out in their quest for a strong start to the competition so they could travel with confidence.
Up until the Stormers game three weeks ago everything was going swimmingly, but being held to a draw by a very average Bulls team at Loftus followed by a home defeat to the Crusaders has upped the ante for this weekend’s game.
A defeat to the Lions will mean they haven’t won since they travelled to Cape Town and a lot of that early momentum would have been surrendered.
“There is a lot riding on this game from a rugby point of view,” admitted Sharks attack coach Robert du Preez.
