If you look at a lighthouse you will get a second of lightness followed by darkness, and that quite aptly sums up how the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ troubled Vodacom URC campaign has gone. It is something the captain Andre Esterhuizen is determined should be halted at this critical final furlong of the season and with a top eight place on the line.
The Sharks seeking consistency seems to be a constant and often repeated refrain from the Durban team but there was a slight adjustment to the words of Esterhuizen that were sent back to the South African media by voice-note from Wales this week. What Esterhuizen and the Sharks are looking for now isn’t so much consistency in results, for that should surely follow if they do fire on all cylinders in Wales, but on consistency in performance.
The Sharks have let themselves down too often this season, which is why they are 10th on the log, and seven log points off the top eight bracket that should be their target from the remaining four matches. In short, their moments of light, such as the two great wins over the DHL Stormers, have been followed too often by moments of darkness, such as the following two games against the Fidelity SecureDrive Lions and the Vodacom Bulls on the highveld.
Etzebeth wants that trend to be stopped. In short, he wants the lights to be switched on all the time.
“It’s about being switched on as soon as you get onto the field,” said Esterhuizen. “That’s where the consistency comes in. It’s a big mindset thing. You can’t want to play one game and then switch off for another. It’s a tough competition where you can lose any day of the week, so you need to be on it every single game.”
Esterhuizen is spot on. The Sharks lacked the energy they showed in their determination to beat the Stormers in subsequent games, and even before that, and with no room for error, that lighthouse effect can’t continue. Dropping just one game now will be tickets for the Sharks’ hopes of making the top eight and qualifying for the URC knockouts and Champions Cup for the seven point gap they need to make up is a big one when there are just four games to go.
After the Ospreys game the Sharks will head to Edinburgh where they will face their former coach Sean Everitt’s team before heading home for two games against the Italian teams in Durban. The Sharks have gone overseas with a 28-man squad that excludes a few injured star players such as Eben Etzebeth, who has had his return from suspension halted by the hip injury that will keep him sidelined from rugby for another two months, while it is understood Grant Williams, Jordan Hendrikse and Bongi Mbonambi may not play again this season.