The Cell C Sharks will be tackling Connacht in Galway in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash on Saturday night with a vastly different team to the one that thrashed the Vodacom Bulls on New Year’s Eve.
The Sharks haven’t officially released the squad that is currently in Ireland preparing for Saturday’s game at the Sportsground, but it is understood that the Sharks director of rugby as well as most of the first choice team are back in Durban training at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in preparation for next week’s home Heineken Cup clash with Bordeaux Begles.
Joey Mongalo is understood to be the man in charge of the Sharks team that will tackle Connacht, which makes sense as the promising young coach was recently appointed to head up the Sharks’ Currie Cup challenge. And many of the players and combinations that do duty in the URC this coming weekend will be playing for him in the Currie Cup, as well as fronting for the Sharks during the understrength phase of URC derbies, which includes two games against the Stormers, that will be played while the Springboks are resting in February and March.
The Sharks have never made any secret of the fact they’d like to do well in the prestigious Heineken Cup, and while with two wins already under the belt they are on the cusp of being already qualified for the last 16 round of fixtures, Powell would be right if he thinks a return trip to Ireland the week before the Bordeaux clash could jeopardise his team’s chances.
The travel factor, with South African teams all traveling economy class via Doha, is becoming a big influencer on how the coaches select and prepare their teams. When Jake White sent an understrength squad to Exeter to play the Chiefs in his team’s second round Heineken Cup game, he got some flak, but he was just the first to do what might start to become standard practice in the coming months.
The Stormers took more than 40 hours to get to Glasgow, where they face the Warriors on Sunday, and such trips are becoming common place. The Sharks’ journey to Galway would have been similarly drawn out.
The Sharks’ decision to go understrength to Galway would have taken several factors into consideration, not the least of them being that they are due to return to the northern hemisphere straight after the Bordeaux game to play Harlequins at The Stoop in what many considered an eagerly awaited clash given the number of Sharks supporting expats living in London.
Another return trip to the north via Doha - it really would be so much easier if they just took a direct overnight flight - so soon after returning from their current trip would be too draining on the players so it makes perfect sense that the players likely to play the two remaining Heineken Cup pool matches are currently in Durban and not having to put themselves through the double trip, remembering of course that they just returned from France, where they beat Bordeaux in a tight game, less than three weeks ago.
The catch of course is that to qualify for next year’s Heineken Cup, the Sharks will have to ensure they finish in the top eight of the URC, but the likelihood is that they have factored in what is to come after the Harlequins clash. The Sharks stay in the UK after the London match to play Edinburgh in the URC, and they are likely to have all hands on deck for a game that will be the last played by the full strength team before the Boks take their break.
Much will depend on how they go against Glasgow on Sunday, but the Stormers could well end up sending an understrength squad to Ulster that same weekend.
The Sharks have already made one selection around travel during the course of this season - back in October when they went to Leinster it was felt that the Boks, who had just ended their Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign, should be spared the trip to Dublin after all the traveling they’d done with the national squad.