The Sharks must make a league statement in Belfast and those World Cup-winning Springboks must be at the forefront of five league points.
The Sharks have the most powerful squad among the South African quartet in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship. But the performances, for a squad so gifted and experienced, have been too few.
John Plumtree’s Sharks were a disappointment in the Investec Champions Cup in not qualifying for the bigger play-off dances and the let-down was even bigger when they waved the white flag, in terms of selection, before playing Lyon in the EPCR Challenge Cup last 16.
Plumtree picked essentially a second-string outfit with the odd first-choice regular in the meek surrender of a title they won a year ago.
A week ago, the Sharks were a Ethan Hooker try-saving tackle, a Siya Kolisi try-saving tackle and a bounce of the ball away from being beaten in Edinburgh.
They won, courtesy of an 81st minute try to Makazole Mapimpi, but the 18-17 win was hollow, which is kinder than the horror show of a 10-7 home reverse against a Leinster team missing 16 Irish internationals.
Springboks captain Kolisi has given everything this season for the Sharks. He has played with passion, with heart and with presence, but too often he has been a lone ranger in the forward pack.
[The Sharks'] performances this season have been a betrayal to those who have invested in the ownership of the club.
Eben Etzebeth, against Edinburgh, played his first Sharks match in five months. He will always add class and grunt to any team, and he and Kolisi must be at the forefront of the Sharks producing a performance befitting their individual player pedigree.
Outside of Leinster, the Sharks have the most expensive and most talented group of players in the league. Their performances this season have been a betrayal to those who have invested in the ownership of the club.
Belfast, filled with so much history, both famous and infamous, is where the Sharks must give their supporters the type of performance that has them believing that this squad is good enough to go to Dublin and beat Leinster.
Any team that wants to win the title will have to get past Leinster, who are in a different class. There is Leinster in the league and then there are 15 other teams.
Leinster, in the first three seasons of the URC, have lost two home semifinals and last season got beaten by the Bulls in the semifinal at Loftus in Pretoria.
A fourth successive Leinster failure seems improbable, but if a team is to challenge them, you would think it is a Bok-filled Sharks outfit.
Closer to home the Stormers host Benetton in Cape Town and the Lions play Connacht, while Jake White’s Bulls do battle in Glasgow in a repeat of last season’s final.
The Lions were awful in losing to Benetton and they have experienced a shocker in the last month. They can’t buy a win but a victory against the Irish play-off contenders will do the Stormers a favour and keep alive the mathematical chance of a Lions top eight play-off finish.
I have the Bulls to stumble against Glasgow, given this will be their fourth match up north in the past month. There have been two massive wins, against Bayonne in the EPCR Challenge Cup and against Munster last weekend in the URC.
The visit to Edinburgh ended their Challenge Cup prospects and tour fatigue could end any chance of a win against Glasgow before a ball has been kicked.
In Cape Town, the Stormers can ensure play-off safety with five league points against fifth-placed Benetton.
They are good enough to get the five points, but the jury is not convinced they are good enough to win away from home in a quarterfinal.
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