Will These Sharks Sink or Swim?

It’s sink or swim time for the Cell C Sharks as Munster Rugby arrive in Durban for a BKT United Rugby Championship final-round shootout on Saturday.

A roller-coaster campaign has left the Springbok-powered Cell C Sharks in eighth place going into the 18th and final round of the 2022-23 season.

A bonus-point win in last week’s try-fest against ninth-placed Benetton gave the Cell C Sharks five crucial log points and a comfortable advantage in points-difference over the Italians.

Though their place in the top eight is quite secure, the Cell C Sharks are hunting for better seeding and the possibility of a more favourable BKT URC quarter-final matchup.

With Munster arriving on the east coast fresh from a historic victory over the DHL Stormers in Cape Town, the Cell C Sharks will need the power of their full contingent of Springboks.

Leading the way for the men from Durban is Springbok skipper Siya Kolisi, who has assumed the club captaincy since returning from a pre-World Cup training camp.

Even though international commitments have limited Kolisi to just five appearances this season, he has made his impact felt in every single one of those games.

The Cell C Sharks have lost just one of the five BKT URC games that he has played in – away to Scarlets in March.

With the Cell C Sharks unable to secure a home play-off, Saturday’s game will be the inspirational loose forward’s last at Hollywoodbets Kings Park before he joins French giants Racing 92 next season.

However, Munster will be in no mood to hand Kolisi a winning farewell.

The Irish club quelled the DHL Stormers in Cape Town to become the first team to take a full house of points away from DHL Stadium since December 2021.

The last time Munster were in Durban was for the Heineken Champions Cup round of 16, when they were manhandled by the Cell C Sharks in a 50-35 loss.

“It will be a tricky one because we played them three weekends ago and they would have learnt from that experience,” said Cell C Sharks director of rugby, Neil Powell.

“But the beauty is that it’s in our hands. How we approach the game and what we want out of it is in our hands.”

Munster head coach Graham Rowntree did not paper over how disappointed his charges were with their performance in their previous visit to Hollywoodbets Kings Park, adding that they will take plenty of confidence from how much better they were against the DHL Stormers.

“We had frank conversations after that game against the Cell C Sharks,” said Rowntree. “They taught us a few lessons at the breakdown and set-pieces, and we knew we would have to up our game there before facing the DHL Stormers.

“The performance against the DHL Stormers… that showed that we can beat teams like this. The South African sides are traditionally the power teams, and we have a lot of respect for how they play.

“I’m immensely proud of the way we started, and the way we stayed in the fight at the end.”