Key Sharks players likely to face champs Toulouse

It is the week that many South Africans should have been looking forward to - the one where we see a quasi Springbok team coming up against a quasi France team when the Hollywoodbets Sharks clash with mighty Toulouse in the Investec Champions Cup in Durban.

As the Supersport advert throwing ahead to the competition says, don’t be surprised if you bump into the world’s finest player, French captain and scrumhalf Antoine DuPont, in the streets of Durban (though it is more likely to be the streets of Umhlanga Rocks) this week.

Toulouse, the most prolific winners of the Champions Cup with five titles, are coming to town to face a Sharks team that will be led by either Springbok captain Siya Kolisi or South Africa’s most capped player, Eben Etzebeth.


The availability of Etzebeth for this game is key for the Sharks given the strength of Toulouse, who have more French international players than the other French sides, as well as the importance of the game for the Sharks.

After returning from Leicester before Christmas with no log points, and with Bordeaux Begles lying in wait in Bordeaux the week after this, the Sharks do need to win or their passage to the knock-out rounds of the elite European competition will be in jeopardy.

Etzebeth and fellow influential Bok forward Bongi Mbonambi both missed the Vodacom United Rugby Championship derbies played against the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers over the festive season following injuries sustained in the bruising Champions Cup clash with Exeter Chiefs.

The good news for South African and Sharks fans who want to see the Durbanites make a statement by beating the team that outplayed them in the 2022/2023 quarterfinal on French soil is that both should be back to face DuPont’s team.

“We will get an x-ray later in the week to ensure his hand has healed properly and he is functional. We are confident he should be okay for the clash with Toulouse,” said the Sharks of Mbonambi in an injury report released last week.

The news on Etzebeth is that “Eben has one more swathe test to do for his concussion symptoms (but) he should be available for Toulouse.”

If both are present it will be a huge boost for the Sharks’ chances for there can be no underestimation of the talismanic effect Etzebeth has on his teammates while Mbonambi makes a massive difference to the power of the Sharks scrum.

Not for nothing does Etzebeth rate him as probably the best scrumming hooker in world rugby, and the successes the Stormers achieved in the set scrums in derbies in Durban and Cape Town over the past six weeks should be seen in the perspective of him being absent for both of those games.

2019 World Cup winner Lukhanyo Am could also be back this week while Vincent Tshituka and James Venter are other regular first choice players who have been out in the last few games who will be assessed this week.

The bad news of course is that the two big injuries sustained in the second Stormers derby before New Year will mean that the Sharks will start without two influential star Bok backline players - fullback Aphelele Fassi and centre Andre Esterhuizen. Fassi is still being assessed but will be out for a while whereas Esterhuizen’s return has been set at six to eight weeks from now.

Jordan Hendrikse can cover fullback with Siya Masuku slotting in at flyhalf but Fassi will be missed for his excellent covering of the back field. The Sharks have enough cover in the midfield for Esterhuizen but the arrival of the former Harlequins No 12 has probably been one of the biggest reasons, outside of the growth of team culture, that the Sharks are now producing the performances the quality on their team sheet should demand.