The Hollywoodbets Sharks management were always set to face a quandary at this juncture of their season on how to approach the remainder of a campaign, which has now become primarily about retaining their Investec Champions Cup status.
The Sharks failed to make the Champions Cup playoffs because they finished outside of the top four in their group. By finishing fifth, however, they were given a slight reprieve through the consolation of being included in the round of 16 in the EPCR Challenge Cup. Very much the secondary European competition, the Challenge Cup was the route the Sharks successfully took in 2024 to make the Champions Cup when they came 14th in the URC.
They can go the Challenge Cup route to the Champions Cup again, or they can make it by making up the current eight-point leeway that the eighth-placed URC team currently has on them. With four matches to go, that will be tough as it requires teams ahead of them to lose twice, and there are now only four games remaining, but judging from the squad they appear to have taken to Galway for Friday night’s clash with Connacht, that is the route they prefer.
Getting knocked out of the Challenge Cup now will actually help the Sharks, as it would then enable them to concentrate completely on the URC, and their remaining tour in the league phase of the URC will be the only time other than this trip where they have to leave the country.
EBEN RETURNS
Not that the Sharks have completely raised the white flag, and while it looks like the team will be led on Friday by their alternative captain, Nick Hatton, the Sharks do have one significant returnee in the form of Eben Etzebeth in their ranks.
The most-capped Springbok will bring experience as well as hopefully a hunger to play built up through his enforced absence following his suspension for the eye-gouging incident in the final international of 2025 in Cardiff. Etzebeth enjoyed winning the Challenge Cup two years ago, so there’s that too.
But it is understood that the Sharks have travelled without their regular captain Andre Esterhuizen, without Siya Kolisi, without Bongi Mbonambi, without Grant Williams, and without several other first-choice players. Hatton spoke of the need to make it a squad effort if the Sharks are to survive across both competitions when he sent the media a voice note when he arrived in Ireland on Wednesday.
“When you get to this stage and you are committed to two competitions, you do require a squad effort. We’ve had a good few days of preparation back home in Durban, and hopefully the squad will get us through. We are looking forward to what we can put out (on Friday),” said the Sharks No 8.
“We are excited. This is knock-out rugby. We know we need to win if we are to progress. Galway is not an easy place to go out and win, but we have belief in our systems. We feel there is a good chance of us doing something special here.”
A win for an under-strength Sharks team, even with Etzebeth in it, would be an achievement against a Connacht team that has been tracking well in both competitions they are playing in and appear to be on an upward curve under the coaching of former England coach and Leinster senior assistant coach Stuart Lancaster.
However, if they go deep in the competition, they will need to make sure they win it, as the travel involved to clinch another Challenge Cup title would compromise their chances of getting out of their current hole in the URC, where they are currently 10th and outside of the URC playoff and Champions Cup qualification bracket.