Sharks get five points, 'momentum and a bit of flow', and some frustration

The Sharks bagged five log points against Bordeaux-Begles in the Champions Cup but they may be left to count the cost in human capital ahead of their trip to London to face the Harlequins.

Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi, flyhalf Curwin Bosch and utility back Boeta Chamberlain are on the mend.

Mbonambi left the field inside the first 10 minutes with a shoulder injury after being tackled. Chamberlain departed the scene in the 66th minute with what looked like a serious injury with his left arm braced.

On Bosch, who was named in the starting team but was withdrawn from the squad, Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell said: “He picked up a bit of a hammie [hamstring injury] in the performance session on Thursday and we were hoping he would pull through in the captain's run on Friday but unfortunately he didn't.

“We didn't want to risk him. The physios are confident he will be back next weekend.

“Again, it will be a case of whether we want to risk him? We will have a bit of time before we depart for London to play Harlequins.”

He said Mbonambi would be assessed on Monday but there was no news on the severity of the injury to Chamberlain.

Though his side secured a 32-3 victory in Durban over a much-changed and ill-disciplined Bordeaux-Begles, Powell admitted there were times he felt frustrated at how scrappy the game became and the coach vowed his team will work on being more clinical.

“Not playing against Connacht with this squad contributed to the fact that the game was a bit scrappy. Hopefully we will shake all that rustiness off us.”

The visitors' spoiling tactics kept the Sharks partly in check even though they were well beaten in the battle for possession. The hosts were also guilty of not tightening up their game.

Still, the Sharks can feel satisfied they ticked the most important boxes.

“Getting five points is important for our journey going forward,” Powell reminded. “We go with momentum and a bit of flow into our next game against Harlequins.”

Though they have secured passage to the round of 16 in the Champions Cup the Sharks are unlikely to ring the changes to the extent they did for the Connacht match for their trip to Harlequins.

“There is always something in it,” Powell said. “Whether we are already in the top 16 or not. There is still a lot to play for. We have to get home advantage in the knockout games.

“If you look at the history of this competition the team with home ground advantage obviously has a massive advantage. Even in the pool games.”

Even if they have to travel with some of their wounded the Sharks have built depth in key areas. One of them is at scrumhalf where Jaden Hendrikse delivered a performance full of hustle and bustle.

“It's obviously great for us to have quality scrumhalves,” the coach said. “Grant [Williams] has done well the last three games for us and then Jaden comes in and makes a step up. As a coach you could not ask for more. We want to build squad depth where you have two, or three players and you can play any of them and still get the performances.”

The Sharks' are building capacity to deal with disruption. Not even the departure at the end of the campaign of captain Siya Kolisi to Racing 92 will knock them off their stride.

Powell stressed Kolisi was going with the team's blessing. “He's going for reasons that are really important to him and that's important to us as well. We are playing a team sport and if we start making it about the individual you will find yourself in trouble.

“Siya will be the first to say it's about the team and not about him. You have seen in the last few games for the Sharks. He was incredible. He's an amazing leader and an amazing person as well.”

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.