Sharks are reading history
There is a lot going against the Sharks as they go into their fifth away Super rugby semifinal and their eighth overall when they meet the Crusaders on Saturday.
A tense 31-27 play-off win over the unfancied Highlanders on Saturday, followed by 30 hours of travel to New Zealand's South Island, does not suggest the Sharks have a hope of upsetting the seven-times champions.
But coach Jake White pointed out that if everyone believed that the first- and second-placed teams in the league log would automatically make the final then they should do away with play-offs.
But the Sharks are setting out to repeat history, 18 years after they shocked the rugby establishment.
In Brisbane in the 1996 Super 12 semifinal, Gary Teichmann's team were given no hope against a Queensland Reds outfit that contained the bulk of the greatest Wallaby vintage in history. But the Sharks prevailed 43-25 against the lineup that included John Eales, Tim Horan, Ben Tune, Elton Flatley, Daniel Herbert, Toutai Kefu, Dan Crowley, Garrick Morgan and David Wilson.
They outscored the hosts by seven tries to three on the back of a supreme forward effort and a blitz of running rugby that shocked the Reds. It remains arguably the Sharks' greatest away win.
A week later the Sharks lost the final to the Blues, who were at their zenith under coach Graham Henry.
The following season the Sharks again qualified for the last four, but had to face the Blues in the semis. There was no happy ending this time as the New Zealanders won a breathless encounter 55-36 with 14 tries scored - eight to the home team and six to the Sharks.
In 1998, their third consecutive last-four appearance, the Sharks lost a heartbreaker 36-32 against the Crusaders in Christchurch, even though they outscored the home team by five tries to four.
In five subsequent semifinals the Sharks have won three and lost two, but the two they lost were both in Australasia, while two wins were in Durban and Cape Town.
After the 1998 defeat, it took another decade for the Sharks to make it to an away semifinal again. They fell 28-13 to the Waratahs in Sydney in 2008.
Current players Frans Steyn, Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis, JP Pietersen and Ryan Kankowski are the only survivors from that match. The injured duo of Odwa Ndungane and Tendai Mtawarira were also part of the team in 2008.
Until this season the Sharks had never beaten the Crusaders in Christchurch, but a 30-25 win in May erased nearly two decades of pain. They now have to do it all over again.