The Hollywoodbets Sharks had to go to win the Carling Currie Cup last September so there might be a bit of a sense of Deja vu for them about what they have to do on Saturday to win the South African Shield - again it is the Emirates Lions in their sights albeit at a different venue.
Saturday’s game at Hollywoodbets Kings Park does differ quite fundamentally from the domestic decider in the sense that unlike at Emirates Airlines Park half a year ago, the Lions don’t have a trophy on the line.
Their two away derby wins over the DHL Stormers and the Sharks over the past fortnight weren’t enough to put them in running for the Shield, which is a secondary competition within a competition in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
They are currently languishing in last position on the four team log and while they can draw level with the Sharks in third place if they repeat their 38-14 win over the Durbanites in Johannesburg when the theatre of conflict is transferred to the coast five days from now, they can’t catch the frontrunners.
STORMERS LEAD
The frontrunners are now the DHL Stormers, who by beating the Vodacom Bulls in the big north/south derby in Pretoria scuppered the home team’s chances of clinching the Shield for a second successive year and moved to top of the Shield log, one point ahead of the Bulls.
Both the Stormers and Bulls have completed the derby phase, so that is where they will remain, but the Sharks can overtake the Stormers if they win with a bonus point at Kings Park.
It certainly ups the ante in a game that already has a lot riding on it for both teams. The Lions need to show that they can do something that they almost always fail to do by backing up one good win with another a week later.
If they do that, they will be in the pound seats for a first ever finish for them in the top eight playoff bracket in the URC.
With six games to come after that, and most of those in Johannesburg with altitude as their ally against overseas teams, they will be hard to stop if they win in Durban.
Not to mention of course what a win over the Sharks away will mean to them. It will certainly go a long way towards sating the hurt they felt when they lost the Currie Cup final to the last kick of the game.
But for the Sharks there’s also a massive mission awaiting them.
The loss in Johannesburg and failure to even pick up a losing bonus point meant they lost ground in their quest for a top two finish and also made their top four position more vulnerable, although they were helped out by Edinburgh’s surprise away win over fifth placed Munster plus the Ospreys’ shock win over second placed Glasgow Warriors.
The Sharks are 10 points behind the Warriors - but they do have a game in hand. Saturday’s is their game in hand, so a full house of points against the Lions will leave them five behind Glasgow, and just two behind the third placed Bulls, with the same number of games to play.
HAD IT IN THEIR HANDS
At the start of the weekend the Sharks had the Shield win in their hands and their marketing department had made it known that was their quest. It looked like they had lost it when the Lions dominated them, with many pundits clearly expecting the Bulls to make it safe by beating the Stormers in the later game.
But that didn’t happen, and Bulls director of rugby Jake White was honest enough afterwards to admit that missing out on a second successive Shield title was disappointing for him. It is now only the Stormers, who suddenly came back into the mix with their Pretoria win, and the Sharks who can win it.
An interesting aside is how the destination of the Shield will be decided if, as could well happen, the Sharks win in Durban but don’t get a bonus point. That will leave the two coastal teams level pegging on 18 points.
The Stormers currently have a good advantage in the points differential column, +10 against the Sharks’ -9. But if the Sharks win they will have more wins than the Stormers - four against three.
The Stormers won the Shield in the first two seasons of the URC but in those days final overall log position determined the winner at the end of the league season rather than only the derby results counting like they do now.
Given the season they have had up until now, the Shield trophy would be a nice consolation for John Dobson and his team.
However, while noting it was probably what many of us said before the Joburg game, the Sharks have too much to play for this week and should be strong favourites to win at home and add the Shield to a trophy cabinet that is currently also home to the Currie Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup.
URC SA SHIELD STANDINGS
1. DHL Stormers - Played 6, Won 3, Lost 3, 18 Pts
2. Vodacom Bulls - Played 6, Won 3, Lost 3, 17 Pts
3. Hollywoodbets Sharks - Played 5, Won 3, Lost 2, 14 Pts
4. Emirates Lions - Played 5, Won 2, Lost 3, 9 Pts