Sharks target route to bigger things

Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell says the Challenge Cup has become of paramount importance because winning it would allow them to secure automatic qualification to next season’s Champions Cup.

The other path to playing in the first-tier of European rugby is by finishing in the top eight of the United Rugby Championship.

Finishing in the top eight of the URC is looking very bleak for the Sharks as they are at the bottom of the points table right now.

The Champions Cup is where the Sharks want to play, and they will not want to spend another season in the second-tier Challenge Cup.

Seeing their chances of reaching the Champions Cup via the URC will be a long stretch, Powell said their main goal this term is to win the Challenge Cup and make a return to the Champions Cup, where they finished in the quarterfinals last season.

“We know that if we win the Challenge Cup, we get an automatic spot in the Champions Cup. The motivation is there for us to make a step up from here,” Powell said.

“From a URC perspective, the goals we set ourselves there were based on the fact that we want to qualify for the Champions Cup next season, so we’ll need to finish in the top eight,” he said.

The Sharks are currently in first place with 12 points in Pool 1 of the Challenge Cup after three games. They will play their final pool stage match on Sunday night away at the Dragons.

Powell said the Sharks need a win in Wales to finish at the top of the group in order to host a last-16 match and a quarterfinal.

“If we don’t secure that home round-of-16 and quarterfinal it will be really tough to go all the way and win the Challenge Cup,” said Powell.

“We all know how tough it is, especially when you go to France.”