The harbingers of doom for the Hollywoodbets Sharks on the basis that they may have lost their captain Eben Etzebeth for the playoff phase of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship may have been misplaced.
It didn’t look good for the Springbok double World Cup winner and two in a row SA Rugby Player of the Year Award winner when he was helped from the field during last Friday night’s penultimate league game against the Ospreys.
He tried to play on initially after taking a knock to the knee but looked in obvious discomfort and the sight of him leaving the field on a golf cart would have induced nerves not from Sharks supporters but also Springbok fans ahead of the looming international season.
However Sharks coach John Plumtree did say after the game that he was hopeful that Etzebeth’s injury was no more than effectively “a dead leg” and that may have proved to be the case. Although there has been no injury update from the Sharks since the Ospreys game, flanker James Venter said during a media call that Etzebeth is ready to play.
“I think we’d be fairly confident even without Eben as we believe in the squad and we have some good locks like Emile van Heerden and Corne Rahl who can do well for us, but I think that Eben has been cleared for this weekend’s game,” said Venter in response to a question on what impact Etzebeth’s absence might have on the team.
“It is a massive boost for the team if Eben is playing because of his physicality and his class as a player but we have such a lot of talented guys in this group and we have faith in each other.”
That Etzebeth’s availability is a massive boost if indeed he remains fit until match day and i sable to start is an understatement ahead of a game that the Sharks are going all out to win as they gear up for a home quarterfinal they are now assured of but just need to find out who it is against.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
The elephant in the room for the Sharks is obviously the DHL Stormers, who would appreciate playing inside the country in a quarterfinal rather than flying across the equator to play the Glasgow Warriors, but as Venter pointed out, the other teams that might come to Durban to play that first playoff game are in good form too.
If the Sharks finish fourth and the Stormers beat Cardiff on Friday night they will finish fifth and be headed to Durban, but a third placed finish will enable the Sharks to avoid the Stormers.
“Obviously there is a benefit to finishing third on the log as you then play the sixth-placed team, meaning one that on points hasn’t done quite as well as the one that finishes fifth so that is something to play for,” said the flanker.
“Our motivation is to finish with as many points as possible and as high up the log as possible. Every game is an opportunity for us to get closer to the full 80 minute performance which we have been looking for and has yet to be forthcoming for us.
"We started slowly but we believe we are starting to click now and are starting to gel and build the necessary chemistry.
“There are a lot of players who suffered injuries but have now been rejoining the squad. Our week in Ulster was an amazing week. Our second 40 minutes in that game saw us play some amazing rugby. And against the Ospreys we built massive phases and we also controlled the kicking game much better than we have been. We feel like we are peaking at the right time.
“In my view we are one game away from clicking and being a really dangerous side. We are working towards that 80 minute performance and hopefully it comes on Saturday,” he added.
As the openside flanker who enjoys ball scavenging and is also good at ensuring the recycling from the loose scrums is quick and efficient, Venter has a key role to play on Saturday.
“We’ve identified the Scarlets as a disruptive team, whether they are attacking the breakdown and hunting turnovers or in the lineouts, where they are disruptive as well. We like to attack and build multi-phases and they have good players who like to play over the ball. So we have focused a lot on our breakdown work this week.”
The Sharks team for Saturday’s game will be announced on Friday.