Sharks won’t play reckless rugby

Jake White says the Sharks just want to get a win against the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.

Depending on what happens earlier in the day, when the Crusaders host the Highlanders, a four-try win at Newlands could take the Sharks above the Crusaders into second place on the combined log and give them a home semi-final. The Sharks and Crusaders both have 46 log points heading into the final round of league matches, with 10 wins each, but the Crusaders have a superior points difference (97 to 89).

'We've decided this week that it doesn't matter what happens on Friday or Saturday in the other games, we must just get a win on the weekend,' said White. 'We want to win again. We haven't won in a while.'

The Sharks have not won in Super Rugby since 23 May, when they beat the Blues 29-23 in Albany. They have since lost 21-19 to the Stormers at Kings Park and 27-20 to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, which has seen them slip from first on the combined log to third. If the Sharks do finish third, they will host a qualifier play-off (effectively a quarter-final) and then have to travel to Australasia for a semi-final.

The Sharks are still waiting on the scans of injured players Beast Mtawarira, Pat Lambie and Paul Jordaan. White said he would know how they were on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the Stormers are hoping that Deon Fourie will recover from a hamstring problem in time for Saturday's match. If he doesn't, Tiaan Liebenberg will start at hooker with Stephan Coetzee or Neil Rautenbach coming on to the bench (Mike Willemse is injured).

Duane Vermeulen, Siya Kolisi and Schalk Burger have all contracted a chest infection, but should be fine for the game, as should Sailosi Tagicakibau, who missed training on Monday because of a neck spasm.

Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images

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