CHAMPIONS CUP: Sharks need to make a much needed statement

With the man most refer to as their owner, the chief of their equity partners Marco Massotti, coming into town for Saturday’s opening Investec Champions Cup game it could be a big week for the Hollywoodbets Sharks both on and off the field.

The match against Saracens was focused on as a massive one way back at the beginning of the season, when the English club, who have links and a partnership with the Sharks through some figures who intertwine in the ownership of the respective clubs, were in Durban for a pre-season friendly.

Owen Farrell, the former England captain and the man considered the talisman at the club, was with them when they came out for their pre-season camp, but he did not play - and neither did most of the other top first choice players.

The side that won against a Sharks XV, which was effectively a third choice youth team as the game was played as a curtain-raiser to the final Carling Currie Cup fixture against the Airlink Pumas, was though captained by experienced Wales international Nick Tompkins, and featured a young player in wing Noah Calouri, who is just 19 years old but has been selected for England A and is along with Henry Pollock one of England’s most precocious young talents.


It is always hard to say early in the week which players a visiting team is going to field in an overseas game, but aside from the three mentioned there is also the England and British and Irish Lions skipper Maro Itoje and additional Lions in Elliot Daly, Ben Earl, Jamie George and other England representatives such as Olly Hartley, Nick Isiekwe and someone who could easily have been a Bok, the excellent former Bulls scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl.

With those players likely to front this weekend, it was already decided by the Sharks back in September that they’d go in under-strength in this past Sunday’s game against Toulouse, where a young side showed a lot of pluck before losing 56-19 against the competition’s most successful team.

That is because there was just a six day turnaround between the two games and winning your home games is non-negotiable in the Champions Cup.

JP'S DEBUT AS COACH ADDS TO GRAVITAS OF DURBAN GAME

What was not known back then was that Saturday’s game, which also coincides with the Sharks Fest, would also be the first the team would play under a new coach in JP Pietersen.

The former Springbok wing, who has coached the Sharks Currie Cup team over the past few seasons, was elevated to the top position when the experienced head coach John Plumtree decided to step aside so that Pietersen could get a crack at becoming his permanent replacement over the next six months.

It was announced in October that Plumtree would not continue as head coach beyond this season and Plumtree’s decision made a lot of sense.

However, Pietersen, who will have Plumtree in the background as an adviser, could not have asked for a tougher baptism, with this game also the one that will determine if the Sharks have anything to play for when the next round is played in January.

The Sharks need to make a statement, desperately so, to win back the confidence of their fans ahead of an equally important Vodacom URC derby against the Bulls in Durban the following weekend.

Talking about that game, that is the reason there shouldn’t be too much focu

s this week on the Bulls’ trip to Franklin Gardens to play the Northampton Saints. Bulls coach Johan Ackermann would have targeted last week’s game against Bordeaux Begles as the must win as it was a home game against the champions and with six days separating the trip to Northampton to the one in Durban, it would be unrealistic to expect the Bulls to go full loaded to the game against last year’s beaten finalists.

STORMERS LOOK TO CONSOLIDATE THEIR CHALLENGE

A team that should be fully loaded at the weekend is the DHL Stormers, who are riding the crest of a wave after seven consecutive wins across both competitions they play in.

They’ve just returned from a successful tour that featured wins in a top of the log URC clash with Munster in Limerick, a venue where the Stormers had never won before, as well as a good win over Bayonne in France last in the Champions Cup first round.

Away wins are like gold in the Champions Cup and by winning in France the Stormers have given themselves a significant leg up and will want to make it count by following up with a home win against La Rochelle.

A win over the two time champions will put the Stormers on the cusp of playoff qualification, with January games against Leicester Tigers at home and Harlequins away to come.

While we know the Sharks will be without the injured Ox Nche and the suspended Eben Etzebeth for the game against Saracens, we know the Stormers will be welcoming back Damian Willemse, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cobus Reinach for a game that will be played in Gqeberha because of a clash of dates at their spiritual home ground of Cape Town (DHL) Stadium.

There are several other big games featuring overseas team that should attract plenty of attention in the second round of Pool play, not the least of those being Leinster’s trip to Welford Road to play Leicester Tigers.

There have been some epic games between the two European giants down the years and Leicester’s need to win has been intensified by their big loss in the first round to La Rochelle.

Glasgow Warriors were another URC team to join the Stormers in making a rare away winning start to the competition but could have their hands full when they host Toulouse on Saturday night.

Munster are a URC team that will need to pick up the pieces after last week’s big loss to Bath when they host Gloucester in Limerick.

After a strong unbeaten start to the season, Munster have lost two in a row, starting with their game against the Stormers, and will want to regain momentum by comprehensively beating Gloucester, who were the team the Sharks beat to win the 2024 EPCR Challenge Cup.

Weekend Investec Champions Cup fixtures

Leicester Tigers v Leinster (Leicester, Friday 22.00)

DHL Stormers v La Rochelle (Gqeberha, Saturday 15.00)

Clermont-Auvergne v Sale (Clermont, Saturday 17.15)

Hollywoodbets Sharks v Saracens (Durban, Saturday 17.15)

Bordeaux-Begles v Scarlets (Bordeaux, Saturday 19.30)

Munster v Gloucester (Limerick, Saturday 19.30)

Glasgow Warriors v Toulouse (Glasgow, Saturday 22.00)

Harlequins v Bayonne (London, Sunday 15.00)

Castres v Edinburgh (Castres, Sunday 15.00)

Northampton v Vodacom Bulls (Northampton, Sunday 17.15)