Beating Connacht in their first home game on Saturday is imperative if they want to stay clear of the point of no return but if historical precedent is anything to go on they can still recover from their disastrous start to the season and win the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
The Sharks are currently languishing last on the URC log, one point behind the Dragons, after four games.
They started off their campaign with a tour that saw them lose to Munster, Leinster, the Ospreys and, most humiliatingly, to Zebre this past weekend.
It was a humiliating loss in Parma from the viewpoint that it was the opposing team’s first win in the last 28 starts.
They picked up just one log point, that being the bonus they managed for losing by less than seven in Parma.
While it was always going to be a tough start for them, with Munster and Leinster away being as daunting a start to a new competition season as you can get, their coach John Plumtree would have been hopeful they’d win against the Ospreys and Zebre.
It has left the Sharks looking like they are up the proverbial creek without a paddle, and they are going to have to turn around their abysmal form soon if they are to prevent themselves from falling over the waterfall into the abyss of just playing for pride.
But while back in the old Super 12 days and even the Super 14, four losses in four starts would have been the death-knell to any championship hopes, the length of the URC means there is some hope for them yet.
TREADING SIMILAR PATH TO MUNSTER
And they don’t have to look too far back in history to why their currently parlous position is not yet terminal.
Munster won the competition last year and were in a similar situation at the corresponding stage of the 2022/23 season that the Sharks are in now.
Munster didn’t have the excuse back then that the Sharks have of having played all their games overseas.
Munster started last season’s campaign with defeats to Cardiff and the Dragons before recovering slightly with a 21-5 win over Zebre.
But then it was back into the slums for them as they were beaten by Connacht, who also had a poor start last year and recovered well.
They beat the Vodacom Bulls comprehensively but lost their next three games and by the time they lost a close home derby to Leinster over the festive period, they had a record that read seven losses in 10 games.
It was then, as they headed into the New Year, that the turnaround started for them, but even then a top eight finish to secure Heineken Champions Cup qualification was still in the balance when they headed to South Africa for their last two games of the regular season.
They beat the Stormers and drew with the Sharks to sneak into fifth position, and then won their away play-off games against all the odds to lift their first major trophy in more than a decade.
As mentioned, Connacht went through something similar. Although they never ended up with a major trophy, they looked dead and buried when they lost four of their first five games, with their one win ironically being against Munster.
But from there they recovered and for the team from Galway making the playoffs by finishing seventh was a win for them.
They then shocked Ulster in their quarterfinal to make the semifinal round, where they put up a creditable performance before losing to the Stormers.
SOME NUMBERS DURBANITES SHOULD BE MINDFUL OF
So all is not lost for the Sharks, but there are some numbers that the Durbanites should be mindful of if they are to still harbour hopes of achieving what they have yet failed to do in the URC by securing a home playoff by finishing fourth.
Glasgow Warriors were fourth last year and they won 13 of their 18 games.
The Stormers were third with just 12 wins but the Cape team managed two draws.
So if the Sharks are still hopeful of hosting a playoff game, they can’t afford to lose to Connacht at the weekend for it will leave them chasing a rather daunting 12 wins minimum from their remaining 13 games.
And with a visit to the in-form Bulls in the not too distant future, it isn’t going to get any easier for them even though they are back on South African soil.
With the top eight teams in the URC this season automatically qualifying for the Champions Cup, the No 9 should be their minimum target from what at this point amounts to 14 remaining games. T
hat was what they managed in finishing eighth last season, though alas back then it didn’t mean European qualification because the Welsh Shield winners were guaranteed Champions Cup participation.
Not that they should necessarily be happy with nine, for there were several teams within a few points of them on the final 2022/23 log, including the Emirates Lions, who finished with 45 points, just three less than their coastal rivals.
The margin for error has been drastically diminished by the Sharks’ poor start but the point is they are still breathing and will be for even if they do lose to Connacht.
The Sharks of course suffer more than most from international call-ups, and will be looking to their returning Springboks - they had eight players at the Rugby World Cup - to reignite their campaign from the beginning of December.
They need to win in the meantime though if they are going to avoid leaving their full strength team with too much to do.
Not even World Cup winning players will be comfortable with being on an extended knock-out footing for 10 games or more.