Sharks’ final straight hopes rest on victory over Cheetahs

THE last time the Sharks played the Cheetahs in this year’s Currie Cup competition, the Durbanites were precariously placed near the bottom of the log and were settling in under the tutelage of their new coaching staff.

They had lost their opener at home to Griquas, and then scraped home against the Lions, also at Kings Park.

In the third round, they changed their season around with a well-fought away defeat of a Cheetahs side that had shown no great change from the incarnation that had made the play-offs in Super Rugby – an achievement the Sharks, with all their Springboks, could not replicate this year.

Indeed, their Super Rugby season began a slide towards rack and ruin when, in a home match on the eve of their overseas tour, the Free Staters shocked them in Durban to give them the worst send-off.

While that Super Rugby loss effectively sunk the Sharks’ competition, their Currie Cup win in Bloemfontein two months ago preceded an undefeated run that raced them up the log until they encountered Western Province at Newlands.

The Cape team won comfortably, and are yet to be beaten.

The Sharks, like any leading side, covet finishing top of the log because of the attendant luxuries of a home semi-final and a potential final.

But this goal will probably elude them if they cannot win at home tomorrow against a Cheetahs team close to their Super Rugby strength.

They will also have to finish strongly with away matches against the Lions and Bulls before concluding with a potentially competition-shaping finale against WP at Kings Park.

In short, there is a heck of a lot for the Sharks to do.

They have some big games coming up, not least tomorrow’s Cheetahs fixture, considering they still have to play the Lions at Ellis Park.

It is getting to now or never time for a Cheetahs team that knows it should be first, rather than third, on the standings given that they have lost minimal players to the Springboks compared with their principal rivals in the competition.

In other games at the weekend, Griquas and the Blue Bulls will be under immense pressure to register victories if they are to stay in the running for semi-final places as the countdown begins to the final stages.

Failure to do so could result in these teams battling it out to avoid the wooden spoon.