URC PREVIEW: Sharks must show fortress is impregnable

“We are motivated to win the Shield because we haven’t done that before”. The words of Hollywoodbets Sharks wing Yaw Penxe. He’s right for not just the reason he gives. They also need to win it as a measure of the progress they’ve made.

Winning the Shield refers, of course, to the Vodacom United Rugby Championship Shield, which is the trophy awarded to the side that tops the local conference. The Sharks had it in their own hands when they went into last week’s game against the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg, and they still do even though they were routed as comprehensively as the British were by the Zulu’s at the Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879.

💥🦈 Score to settle 🦁💥

🏟️ @SharksRugby and @LionsRugbyCo are going head-to-head once again on Saturday 💪

Who takes it? 👀@Vodacom #URC | #SHAvLIO pic.twitter.com/faUHLSZtDY

— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) March 5, 2025

That was a result that for many seemed to completely erase the memory of what happened two weeks before that, which was the equivalent of the battle that happened later the same day as Isandlawana - Rorke’s Drift, 12 kilometres away, where a garrison made up of mostly injured men held off the marauding army in a tempest that culminated in the awarding of a record number of Victoria Crosses.

Sometimes history can reflect the extremes of emotion and achievement happening together in a short space of time, and the way an undermanned Sharks team overcame the Vodacom Bulls at their own fortress of Loftus was very akin to what happened at Rorke’s Drift. And some would say the game in Durban against those opponents in December was even more so, as the Sharks were more under-strength then than they were at Loftus.

But keeping with the theme of fortresses, that first game was at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, which coach John Plumtree wanted his players to turn into the fortress it hadn’t been for quite some time. As is the case with his other mission of instilling in his team the kind of culture and resilience that saw the garrison at Rorke’s Drift defended just over 146 years, with last week’s reverse possibly an aberration caused by complacency, Plumtree is well on the road to achieving that other mission.

ONLY TOULOUSE HAVE WON IN DURBAN THIS SEASON

The only team to have visited Durban and won this season was Toulouse in the Investec Champions Cup. Toulouse are almost an exception to every rule, as in club rugby terms they make Darth Vader look like someone on a peacekeeping mission. Otherwise the Sharks have won every game, meaning all their URC games and one other Champions Cup game against Exeter Chiefs. They beat the Chiefs with something to spare, they were comprehensive winners over the URC champions Glasgow Warriors even though two late tries distorted the scoreline for the visitors, and they ended Graham Rowntree’s tenure at the former champions, Munster, with a resounding thrashing of the men from Limerick.

Another former URC champion, the DHL Stormers, suffered their first URC defeat in Durban, and the first there since their last ever game of Super Rugby in March 2020, a few weeks after that, and of course the Bulls were seen off. Compare that with previous seasons, when teams like Cardiff and Benetton came to Durban and won, and that is a step forward.

And it will also be a step forward if they can respond to last week’s reverse by beating a team that managed something of a Houdini Act in the corresponding game last year. The Lions, like they did last week, won comfortably against the Sharks in Johannesburg, but in Durban they were outplayed in the first half and looked like they were heading for a big defeat.

The Lions were out of it at 18-3 down at halftime, but in the second half, and in particular the last quarter, the Lions came back to win 20-18. That wasn’t the only time last year that the Sharks lost on the green grass of home in that fashion - they also lost late against Benetton, and most memorably to Connacht, a day where they were excellent for the first 50 minutes to an hour and gave a superb example of the template Plumtree was looking for only to lose it at the death.

Those days appear to be behind the Sharks, even if the blow outs that sometimes happen away from home, and here you can recall Treviso and Johannesburg, aren’t. The Champions Cup annihilation at the hands of Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, which was the other big Sharks away loss, shouldn’t really count given that the complete Sharks first choice team was being rested in preparation for the following week’s URC derby against the Bulls.

But they need to keep those bad home days behind them if they want to keep the wolves of criticism away from their door, and the indications from Durban are that there has been much honest soul-searching and self-appraisal since the trip to Emirates Airlines Park.

As defence coach Joey Mongalo told the Durban media, the Sharks have a chance of winning a trophy a week after such a disturbing defeat, something they will achieve if they just win, for four points will draw them level with the current leaders, the Stormers, and number of games won will then be the tie-breaker. Winning the SA Shield, a competition within a competition where they didn’t win a game last year, will be a measure of progress that should override the memory of what happened last week.

LIONS WERE EXCELLENT

The Johannesburg team aren’t chasing the Shield but they are chasing a top eight spot, and they will be in that bracket if they win. They were excellent in Johannesburg, and while the two late tries the Sharks scored when the game was already lost changed it, they were heading for a whitewash of their opponents with 10 minutes to go.

That result should have bred confidence so they arrive in Durban with a definite chance. But the Sharks have much more pedigree than was shown last week and on Saturday you should expect them to show it. There’s just too much on the line, and these days when there’s a lot on the line and their brains aren’t soft because they think their opponents are easy prey, they tend to prevail. It might not be as one-sided in the Sharks’ favour as it was in the Lions’ favour last week, but expect the hosts to win by more than a score.

VODACOM UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP 12TH ROUND

Hollywoodbets Sharks v Emirates Lions (Durban, Saturday 14.00)

Prediction: Sharks to win by 12

Teams to be confirmed later on Friday.