Sharks lament throwing away their Super Rugby destiny

Sharks assistant coach Dick Muir didn’t hide his disappointment that his charges’ Super Rugby destiny is now firmly out of their hands.

Saturday’s clumsy 16-27 loss to the lowly (at least in 2018) Stormers at Newlands now means that the Durbanites must beat the Jaguares at home next weekend and hope the Highlanders beat the Rebels to reach the playoffs.

“It was in our hands but now we have to hope other results go our way,” said Muir.

“Inconsistency is really haunting us this season. We have one good game and then the bad one the next. We’re also playing good halves of rugby and then bad ones. There’s some real work that needs to be done to identify the problem.”

Should the Sharks fulfill their end of the bargain and other results go their way, it’s most likely that they will have to travel to New Zealand for a quarterfinal.

That might sound like a daunting assignment but the Sharks have actually proved to be South Africa’s most successful side against the Kiwi teams this year.

As a result, they’ll be bullish of such a prospect.

But first circumstances need to be favourable.

“We’ve done well against the New Zealand sides. Granted, history is against teams who have to travel for a playoff match but we possess the type of side that can beat any team on any given day.”

The Sharks are holding their breath over the suspected neck injury sustained by No 8 Dan du Preez.

The towering loose forward is an influential player and his absence will be a massive blow given that brother Jean-Luc is also a few weeks away from a return from a knee injury.

“We’re not sure how serious Dan’s injury is yet,” said Muir.