MARK KEOHANE | Stakes are high as Sharks haul out fresh arsenal for Lions clash

Sharks coach JP Pietersen has selected a match 23 for the future as much as one capable of beating the Lions in Johannesburg in the United Rugby Championship.

Pietersen this week was confirmed as head coach after five wins in seven starts as interim coach, following the departure of John Plumtree a few months ago.

At first glance, the starting XV to play the Lions looks like a concession that there are bigger occasions to follow Saturday’s match. There is no Ox Nche, Andre Esterhuizen, Ethan Hooker, Grant Williams, Siya Kolisi, Bongi Mbonambi and Eben Etzebeth.

But several of those missing out represent a Sharks past and not the 2026/27 season.

Williams is Japan-bound and Kolisi is returning to Cape Town to play for the Stormers. Etzebeth’s last two seasons in Durban have been a patchwork of injury, suspension, Springbok duty and rest protocols, and Mbonambi has fought form and fitness for the better part of 18 months.

The Sharks have been operating with fragments, and not the full skeleton, of their World Cup-winning Springboks spine, and what Pietersen has done this week, comforted by the security of his appointment, is to invest in who will be around next season.

Springboks Esterhuizen, Hooker and Nche are among those rested for Saturday, and they will be pivotal to any Sharks campaign, but outside of the trio, those travelling to Johannesburg are Pietersen’s players.

He is planning to win differently, backing those who are perceived as second-string and most definitely not waving a white flag.

When Pietersen stepped in as interim coach he was blunt about the mental state of the playing squad. His observations spoke to a lack of hunger, desire and pride in a jersey he had worn with such pride in a career that climaxed with a World Cup gold for the Springboks in Paris in 2007.

He felt there was a disconnect between the history of the Sharks and the performance levels. It saddened more than angered him because he knew it was something he could fix.

The flush-out session with the players was about honesty. Who were they? What were their strengths? Where were they not strong? How did they need to play to get the best performance and results? He wanted realism and not romance from his players, and in the two successive wins against the Stormers he got that realism.

The Sharks, in beating the Stormers in Cape Town and in Durban on successive Saturdays, were not recognisable to the rabble that stumbled through the first two months of the URC, disinterested and beaten before the first whistle.

Coaches can be liberal with their choice of words, but the biggest talking is done through selections, and Saturday’s selection is a big statement from Pietersen.

He is moving on from the past, and his selections show that he values enthusiasm as much as he would in-form experience.

For the Sharks, though, Saturday is about proving there is more substance to their revival than sentiment. They have to kill off the notion that they are only dangerous when emotionally charged to play their coastal rivals, the Stormers.

He has backed a veteran former Springbok in midfield alongside a former Junior Springboks Player of the Year, and he is challenging them to match the impact of Esterhuizen and Hooker in the midfield.

Pietersen knows the quality of Hooker, Esterhuizen and Nche, but to be successful in the URC, in getting into a strong play-off position, he has to build match-day squads that can thrive in the absence of the big name Springboks.

It is a big play, but right now it is one that signals intent and confidence.

The Lions beat a full-strength Sharks team in Durban a month ago, in the last play of the match. So that result demands respect for Saturday’s match.

Ellis Park is never soft ground and the Lions, despite conceding 52 points to the Bulls in their last URC outing, remain a team that play without fear at home.

For the Sharks, though, Saturday is about proving there is more substance to their revival than sentiment. They have to kill off the notion that they are only dangerous when emotionally charged to play their coastal rivals, the Stormers.

Pietersen has made it clear internally that the jersey carries history, in the Currie Cup, Super Rugby, Challenge Cup and URC.

He wants players to earn the right to the jersey and not feel signing a contract gives them the right to wear it.

For the Lions, the message will be a similar one from their coach Cash van Rooyen, who has to find a way to stop the inconsistency of the Lions in the URC.

For the neutral, it will be a cracker of a game that showcases the healthy state of a newer generation of South African players not necessarily in contention for the 2027 World Cup.