After two recent defeats, the Sharks have some heavily armed cavalry coming to the rescue for their United Rugby Championship (URC) tour to Edinburgh and Ulster.
Springboks Eben Etzebeth, Aphelele Fassi, Lukhanyo Am and Grant Williams trained last week and, barring any training ground incidents, will play against Edinburgh on Friday night.
Sharks and South African rugby supporters in general will be hoping that the inspirational Etzebeth has no mishaps this week. He last played in the Sharks’ Champions Cup defeat of Exeter on December 7 in Durban. Ongoing concussion issues kept him on the sidelines, and he was ready for a comeback a month ago, only to strain a hamstring at the Springbok alignment camp.
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There had been talk that Etzebeth and Fassi would play against Lyon in their recent Challenge Cup match, but the Sharks said the pair were not quite ready. In any case, Plumtree kept most of his first-choice players in Durban while a youthful team went to France.
Fassi suffered a serious ankle injury in the Sharks' loss to the Stormers in Cape Town at the end of December. The lanky fullback has been sorely missed by a Sharks team that, of late, have been uncharacteristically poor in the aerial side of the game
A big part of the Sharks’ game strategy is kicking to win the ball back, and they had been enjoying much success with it until the last four games. Fassi is an ace in the air and will make a big difference on Friday night.
The livewire Williams was forced into taking a few weeks off from all contact because of a nagging neck problem. He had been nursing it through games, but the point was reached where he had to step back from playing.
Am pulled a hamstring a month ago and his return adds much-needed experience in the backline. The Springbok outside centre is exceptional at orchestrating the defence.
The return of the quartet means Plumtree has all of his first-choice players at his disposal for the first time this season, and the timing is perfect because the Sharks have been sharply focused on the URC this year, and they have targeted a massive push over their four remaining games before the playoffs.
It will still irk Plumtree that his team lost narrowly at home to an understrength Leinster. If they had won that one at Kings Park, they would be just a point behind the third-placed Bulls.
As the log now stands, first-placed Leinster are uncatchable on 62 points; champions Glasgow are second (54); the Bulls are on 50 and the Sharks 45.
It is possible for the Bulls and Sharks to overhaul Glasgow for the coveted second place (home semi-final if the quarter-final is won). The South Africans would have to win their last four games and hope that the Warriors slip up in tricky away games to Benetton and Leinster.
For the Sharks, these last four weeks of league games is also about making sure they don’t slip out of the top four and surrender home ground advantage in the playoffs. Munster and Ulster are not far behind them on the log.