The stakes are high for the Sharks in round 18 of the Vodacom URC, but Neil Powell is only focused on beating Munster when the teams clash on Saturday.
Depending on the outcomes of the DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls games, the Sharks may enter the Durban clash looking to seal their URC quarter-final spot or possibly improve their log position from eighth place for an easier quarter-final.
But, as the table stands, the Durbanites would miss out on 2023-24 Champions Cup rugby, as their current place wouldn’t be good enough because the winners of the Welsh Shield would qualify for Europe’s elite event instead of them.
They must beat Munster and hope that either the Bulls or Connacht slip up above them, and addressing the permutations during a Sharks conference on Friday, director of rugby Powell told reporters: “It’s something that we’ve discussed and if we don’t do ourselves a favour and aren’t successful against Munster, none of those permutations actually matter.
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“So we’ve got to do the job ourselves first before we look at anybody else and wanting anybody else to do us a favour. It’s all about us and beating Munster here [in Durban] because if we lose, then nothing else matters, who’s winning or losing.
“It is difficult to not focus on that but we need to do our job first before looking at other teams to do us favours.”
The Sharks come into this weekend’s clash with a 50-35 Champions Cup last-16 victory over Munster three weeks ago, also at Kings Park.
Powell, though, is wary of the threat the Irish visitors pose, especially after they created one of the biggest upsets last week by ending the Stormers’ 19-game unbeaten run at Cape Town Stadium.
He added: “We expect a different Munster team from the last time. They’ve said it in the media the last weeks about the lessons they learnt playing the Sharks … worked on areas they felt were weaknesses and they are better for it.
“And you could already see some of the intent in the Stormers game, to go to Cape Town and beat a Stormers team is no easy feat. They’ve definitely stepped up in the areas we challenged them and beat them when we played them at Kings Park.
“So we are expecting a Munster team that will be more physical and wants more dominance with their forward pack. We are happy to have prepared for what we think they’ll bring.”
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