Durban - The bad news for the Sharks is that captain and flyhalf Pat Lambie will not fly out with the team for Saturday’s Super Rugby quarter-final against the Hurricanes in Wellington.
The good news is that the Sharks line-up to play the Kiwis will be very close to the same 15 that beat the Hurricanes in a famous victory at Kings Park in May.
There has been much to-do behind the scenes to get Lambie cleared to play this weekend given that he falls outside a Sanzaar ruling that only players that have played four games or more are eligible for the play-offs (Lambie has three caps for the Sharks this season).
But in the end, concerns about Lambie’s health quite rightly superseded a possible need to apply to Sanzaar for clemency regarding a player that is contracted to the Sharks, who was in the 40-man squad named before the Super Rugby season kicked off, and who has played three games.
The Sanzaar ruling came about, funnily enough, because it was some South African teams that were taking the mickey, resulting in SAZAAR tightening up the regulations.
Notably, Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus some years ago recruited Schalk Brits from English club Saracens a week before a semi-final... That was nonsense.
Fair enough that Sanzaar sought to rule out this abuse.That said, the Sanzaar status quo regarding qualification for play-offs is as intractable as it is obtuse and downright unprofessional.
It denies players who have been legitimately injured the right to make comebacks in the competition they have signed up to play in. They can’t play anywhere else!Be that as it may, Lambie is still concussed and a certain fight between the Sharks and Sanzaar has thus been averted.
Better news for the Sharks regarding this curious Sanzaar qualification ruling is that the promising former Western Province lock, Ruan Botha, has snuck in under the rigid Big Brother radar and can back up the increasingly productive second-row pairing of Stephan Lewies and Etienne Oosthuizen.In fact, the Sharks backline that will play in the Cake Tin on Saturday (9.35am kick-off) is the same one that did exemplary duty when the Sharks surprised the Hurricanes in Durban about six weeks go.
The flyhalf that day was Garth April, the centres were Andre Esterhuizen and Paul Jordaan, the wings JP Pietersen and Lwazi Mvovo, the fullback Willie le Roux and the scrumhalf Michael Claassens.
Springbok incumbent Le Roux has been passed fit after a shoulder injury, and outside centre Paul Jordaan is back from a knee injury, which will mean JP Pietersen can revert to the wing and Mvovo will be on the other wing. At scrumhalf, Stefan Ungerer is set to return.
The Star