• The Sharks are in dangerous territory just five rounds into the URC season and have called on their star Springboks for this weekend. 
• Eben Etzebeth returns to the starting line-up for Saturday’s clash against the Dragons. 
• Coach John Plumtree says the Boks’ return this week was always part of the plan.
• For more, visit News24 Sport’s home page. 

The Sharks, searching for their first United Rugby Championship (URC) win of the season against the Dragons in Durban on Saturday, have called on their World Cup-winning Springboks to get the job done. 

According to head coach John Plumtree, the selections of Eben Etzebeth, Makazole Mapimpi and Jaden Hendrikse in the starting line-up (powerhouse prop Ox Nche is on the bench) was always part of the plan for this gameweek and is not an act of desperation. 

Lukhanyo Am, meanwhile, captains the side, though he did feature in last weekend’s home loss to Connacht. 

The Sharks have lost all of their opening five matches of the season to be left bottom of the log, 14 points off the top eight and the playoff places. 

While Plumtree admits that the results are hurting, he is not prepared to change the path the Sharks are on, insisting they will not start “kicking the ball away” in the pursuit of short-term success. 

“But when you’re working in the now, you want to get some results and be competitive. We’ve got a lot of work to do to make up where we at, and I guess that starts tomorrow.”

READ | Retired Springbok moves into Stormers coaching structures

This is a process, Plumtree says, and the hope is that with his star Boks back in the mix, results will turn around sooner rather than later. 

“It’s been great to have them back,” he said on Friday.

“We had a meeting at 07:00 on Monday and a chat around how they’re feeling physically and mentally, and we got a little bit of feedback from them about what it means being back with us after coming off such a high.

“It was really positive. They’re all really keen to go and they’ve been great all week. They’ve got huge amounts of leadership amongst them, so it’s been good. It’s nice for the other players to see them back.”

Plumtree did warn that it might take the returning Boks a little while to get back up to speed. 

“I expect them to be a lot better next week than this week, but they’re trained well,” he said.

“They haven’t played for a while, so there is obviously a bit of nervousness around their lungs.

“It was always going to be the plan (to play them this week). We’ve been waiting for these guys to come back for about three weeks. They’re back and they want to get into it. They’re rugby players and they want to play the game.”

One man Durbanites will be thrilled to see back in Sharks colours is Eben Etzebeth. 

“He’s great. I asked him if he wanted to come off the bench, and he said he wanted to start,” Plumtree explained.

“He’s enthusiastic and you can see why he is a champion. I’ve worked with quality locks like that before and they show the same traits in their commitment, attitude and professionalism.

“It’s great for our young players to see a guy like that and how he goes about his business. It’s certainly good to have him back in the group.”

Kick-off on Saturday is at 19:05.

Sharks

15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Lukhanyo Am (c), 12 Francois Venter, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Phepsi Buthelezi, 6 James Venter, 5 Emile van Heerden, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu

Substitutes: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Jeandre Labuschagne, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg