Sharks on back foot without injured talisman Etzebeth

The Sharks’ chances of advancing beyond the quarterfinal stage of the Heineken Champions Cup received a major blow on Wednesday with the news that injured lock Eben Etzebeth is unlikely to play in Saturday’s playoff against Toulouse.

Etzebeth, who has become the Sharks’ talisman since moving to Durban from France, was unable to play in the second half of Saturday’s  50-35 win over Munster in the round of 16 clash.

Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell said Etzebeth’s injury would be assessed after he has gone for a scan, but it is understood the Sharks have resigned themselves to being without him for the quarterfinal.

And with the other starting lock against Munster, Emile van Heerden, having to leave the field not long after Etzebeth with what looked like a dislocated shoulder, the Sharks are going to have to dig deep into their second-row resources for the trip to France.

It looks likely Vincent Tshituka will move from flank to lock, where he will partner Gerbrandt Grobler, with Reniel Hugo the likely replacement on the bench.

On the positive side, the Sharks did get away with the absence of both Etzebeth and Van Heerden in the second half of the Munster clash, which was effectively when they took control of the game.

However, Etzebeth is the team’s enforcer and there is a noticeable difference between the Sharks teams that have the Springbok lock in tow and those that go onto the field without him. With Toulouse already likely to start as favourites, Etzebeth’s absence will minimise the prospect of a shock result.

Scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse is also a doubtful starter for Saturday’s clash, but in this case, the first-choice player has a more than capable replacement in the No 9 jersey in the form of the pacy Grant Williams.

The injury situation offset what was otherwise a positive day out for the Sharks against Munster, with Powell saying he was happy with the way his men responded to their disappointing defeat to Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship the previous week.

“It was a good turnaround for us and credit must go to the team for the way they turned around the disappointment of the Scarlets game. The boys realised they needed to be better, and they were,” Powell said.

However, Powell was also realistic enough to admit that one of the perennial work-on areas for his team this season remains the defence.

Though the Sharks put themselves on the road to victory by supplementing their scrum dominance with swarming defence in the near channels, with the Munster inside backs struggling under the pressure that was applied and the Sharks winning many turnovers, the defence out wide was again suspect.

Apart from the early try scored by Munster, where they found themselves with acres of space once the ball had been moved through the hands and the inside defenders had been committed and removed from the contest, they also scored three good tries in the final quarter to turn what was looking to become a rout into an ultimately respectable scoreline for the losers.

“Our attacking in this game was good but we set high standards for ourselves, and in that sense, the last 20 minutes was disappointing,” Powell said. “We will need to fix that if we want to go further in the competition.

“We need to be able to put pressure on the ball but still be good defensively out wide. We know we have to look at our defence if we want to get through the next one as Toulouse are a very good attacking team,” he said.  

SuperSport.com