Durban – The Sharks were left sweating over the fitness of Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis and captain Marco Wentzel after their latest failure against the Hurricanes over the weekend.
The Durban side, who suffered a fifth consecutive Super Rugby loss in Wellington, are already without a number of players through injury and the list could lengthen in Sydney, the latest stop of their winless tour to face the Waratahs.
“There are three or four concussions,” director of rugby Gary Gold said. “Bismarck’s knee, Marco played with what seems to be a fractured rib or cartilage. A lot of assessment is going to be made.
“Everyone is being assessed. It’s been a very long day of travelling here to Sydney.”
Gold’s men are currently in free-fall, and despite an improved showing at the Westpac Stadium where they went down 32-24, they are down to 11th on the overall table.
Their last win seems a distant memory too, dating back to March 28 against the Force in Durban, but their boss is unconcerned by their present dilemma.
“We spoke about not worrying about log tables and the SA conference,” he said. “We just spoke about letting ourselves down so badly and it was all about pride.
“I think we showed the supporters how much it means to us.
“Again, there were factors that didn’t go our way. To lose Lwazi, then Renaldo then Bismarck, it’s just incredibly disruptive and it seems to be an ongoing phenomenon.”
Gold, meanwhile, was still pleased with the showing against the table-topping Hurricanes, saying there were plenty of signs that a corner could soon be turned.
“Obviously we’re massively disappointed with the result,” he added. “I think after a very poor performance against the Highlanders, I thought the guys worked extraordinarily hard during the course of the week and I was impressed by the commitment from the players and management in terms of getting the situation sorted.
“I think we saw a huge amount of commitment from the players. We crossed the Hurricanes line four times and bizarrely one of the tries wasn’t allowed at a critical time of the game.” – ANA