Durban — The bad news for the Sharks is that star fullback Aphelele Fassi will not play against Ulster in Durban on Saturday, but the better news for all concerned is that his injury is not as bad as first feared.
The 25-year-old left the field in the Sharks’ victory over the Lions at the weekend clutching his ribs, and he indeed has a rib cartilage injury, but it is not severe and the word from the Shark Tank is that he could be back for the Sharks’ visit to the Stormers next Saturday.
To say the Sharks will have a point to prove in that match in Cape Town is an understatement and they will be doing their best to get Fassi ready for a game that will also see their Springboks back from their alignment camp.
I seriously doubt the Sharks will ease their Boks back into action off the bench for that match ...
But first, there is the no small matter of playing a fixture against Ulster that was meant to happen on 22 October last year.
The Sharks and their fans were all dressed up for their annual SharkFest, but had nowhere to go when 24 hours before kick-off Ulster called the game off because of illness in their ranks.
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That sparked a furore in KwaZulu-Natal because the speculation was that Ulster — and the equally sick Glasgow Warriors, who were due to play the Lions — had been contaminated by Durban’s notoriously foul sea water.
At that time, sewerage was spilling freely into the sea and E.coli was rife. Ulster and the Warriors were staying in Umhlanga Rocks, a little north of Durban.
Ulster claimed that they could not put a team on the field and they went home. The Sharks were outraged not just because they had planned festivities for the day and felt that Ulster could muster a team, but mostly because they had a full house of Boks and the week before they had been in fine form in heavily defeating Glasgow.
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Those Boks are now away, as mentioned earlier, but there is some consolation for the Sharks in that on Saturday, Ireland are playing Italy in the Six Nations, and in their squad has a good sprinkling of Ulstermen.
Ulster are kind of like the Sharks in that when they have their internationals, they are hard to beat. Ask the Stormers. They played Ulster at full strength in Belfast on 27 January and were whacked 35-5.
The Stormers a week later played an under-strength Sharks team and won 46-19.
So where does this leave an under-strength Sharks team versus an under-strength Ulster side?
I doubt anybody knows and that makes Saturday’s game so intriguing.
IOL Sport