Durban — The Sharks will be sweating on the fitness of game-breaker scrumhalf Grant Williams ahead of Saturday’s final-round United Rugby Championship match against Munster.
Williams is quite possibly the quickest rugby player in South Africa and his blistering pace has made him a try-scoring machine for the Durbanites but he took a head knock against Benetton at the weekend and the Sharks will be holding thumbs he comes through concussion protocols well.
The scrumhalf position had been an embarrassment of riches for the Sharks before Jaden Hendrikse dislocated his shoulder scoring a try against Munster three weeks ago, an injury that required surgery.
The loss of the Springbok scrumhalf was mitigated by the presence of Williams but it will border on disaster if Williams is now ruled out too.
In the Benetton game, Williams was replaced by Cameron Wright and then the next in line would be the Currie Cup scrumhalf Bradley Davids.
The Sharks are also running out of locks. Eben Etzebeth is out for three months with a shoulder problem, as are the long-term injured Le Roux Roets and Emile van Heerden, and now Hyron Andrews looks like he is out with a head impact injury.
Andrews replaced Etzebeth for the Benetton game but left the field for a head impact assessment.
A likely replacement for him would be the Currie Cup captain, Reniel Hugo.
The Sharks are in the tenuous eighth place on the log will and need at least one point from their game against Munster to ensure they stay there.
The Sharks are on 46 points and their five-point harvest against Benetton has not only gone a long way to securing them a quarter-finals place but they could also leapfrog the Bulls (48) into seventh if Leinster win at Loftus this weekend.
IOL Sport