Durban – The last time the Sharks organised their annual SharkFest, their opponents, Ulster, pulled the plug just 24 hours before kick-off and went home crying illness.
That was last October, and to say the Sharks were annoyed at the party-pooping Ulstermen remains an understatement. Not just because a small fortune had been spent on food markets and entertainment, but also because the Sharks had the rare pleasure of a team fully stocked with Springboks.
Having ruthlessly dispatched the Glasgow Warriors the week before, there was an excellent chance the Sharks would bank five URC points.
That game was postponed until last month and Ulster beat a Sharks team denuded of their Boks. This emphasised why the Sharks were so irritated when the men from Belfast cried off last year.
Fast forward to Saturday and as you read this, the SharkFest is still on. Good on Munster for drinking their bottled water, staying out of the sea and thus honouring the fixture and the mardi gras event their hosts are putting on.
The trouble for Munster is they are encountering what their countrymen from Northern Ireland were supposed to late last year – a locked, stocked and fully loaded Sharks team.
And they are a team in a mean mood after they shamed themselves last week in Wales – Siya Kolisi pretty much said the Sharks were ghosts of their usual selves. He used the words “absolute nonsense” to describe the performance.
Speaking of ghosts from the past, John Plumtree is in town and while he cannot take up his coaching position until July, the Sharks players know that he would have been taking mental notes last week.
Yes, it is a team game, but the players also know that a new boss is about to take over and they need to impress.
The current (acting) coach Neil Powell will be delighted when Plumtree takes the baton and he can step back to embrace his job as director of rugby. In the meantime, he has the whip in hand and he has decided to give the team that let themselves down last week a second chance.
There is a change at No 8 where Sikhumbuzo Nothse is in for Phepsi Buehtelzi and at lock – Gerbrandt Grobler starts for Emil van Heerden – but otherwise it is the same team that lost to the Scarlets.
Sharks for Munster: 15 Boeta Chamberlain, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siya Kolisi (capt) 5 , Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Bongi Mbonambi 1 Ox Nche.
Substitutes: Kerron van Heerden, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Carlu Sadie, Emile van HeerdenGrant Williams, Ben Tapuai, Thaakir Abrahams
IOL Sport