Cushy draw for Sharks

SANITY has finally prevailed regarding playing rugby in Durban in February, and the Sharks’ first home match of next year’s Super Rugby competition will be against the Waratahs on March 10.

Yesterday, Sanzaar released the competition schedule, and while there is no change to the bewildering format, the Sharks at least have a cushier draw than they did this year. However, the complete absence of fixtures against New Zealand teams means there are not too many mouth-watering fixtures on the Kings Park menu beyond the local derbies.

The current format dictates that one season a South African team will play only New Zealand teams, outside of the home-and-away fixtures against other teams in their pool, and then the next year they play only Aussie teams.

And it starts in Brisbane on February 24 with an opening fixture against the Reds, and then a visit to the Brumbies in Canberra.

And that is it as far as the

FIXTURES

Australasian tour is concerned, although later in the tournament there are one-off visits to Singapore to play the Sunwolves, and Buenos Aires to tackle the Jaguares.

The local teams in the Sharks’ Africa Group 2 are the Lions, Kings and Cheetahs, and then there are one-off games against the South African teams from the other Africa group, the Stormers and the Bulls, with both those fixtures played at Kings Park. And remember, with the Japanese and the Argentinians attached to Africa Group 2, the Sharks and the other South African teams in that group also play home and away matches against the aforementioned foreign teams.

In all, the Sharks play 15 pool matches, eight of them in Durban. It is just about as good a draw as you can get in terms of qualifying for the play-offs. The Sharks could well have drawn the Stormers and Bulls away, but instead have those matches in Durban, and the visiting Aussie teams are eminently beatable.

After that ground-breaking start to the tournament in Australia, the Sharks host the Waratahs and Kings on successive weekends before away games in Bloemfontein and Johannesburg. They then play the Jaguares in Durban before their Easter weekend bye.

The qualifiers will take place on the weekend of July 22, with the semi-finals played a week later and the final scheduled for Saturday, August 5.