Sharks to push for home ground advantage in Champions Cup knockouts

The Sharks are not planning to take the foot off the pedal against the Harlequins in their next Heineken Champions Cup fixture despite the South Africans having already secured their place in the tournament’s last 16.

The Durban-based franchise are in London to take on the Harlequins at Twickenham Stoop on Saturday (3pm).

Unlike the Sharks, who have won all three of their Champions Cup matches so far, the Quins are desperate to win Saturday’s clash to confirm their presence in the next round.

But they will have to bring their A game against the Sharks who are determined to collect all the match points with an aim to get home fixtures in the round of 16 and quarterfinals.

Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell, who has managed to make the Durbanites a force to be reckoned with since he took over in November, believes playing those two matches at home can be a boost to their Champions Cup ambitions.

“We would love to get good points from this game and I think the reason for it is to try to get ourselves as high as possible on the table so that we can hopefully get a home round of 16 and home quarterfinal,” Powell said.

“I think if we can achieve that it will give us a massive boost in our campaign for the Champions Cup because you do have advantage when you play at home, especially in the knockout stages.

“I know there’s a lot to play for, even from a Harlequins point of view. I think they need to secure some points in this game to make it through to the round of 16.

“So they will obviously be motivated to go flat out and see if they can get points out of this game. We are prepared for a massive battle.”

When the Sharks faced the English side in Durban in December, the hosts claimed a hard-fought 39-31 victory.

The Sharks will have to be prepared to put in an 80-minute performance in London as the Quins ran them until the hooter in Durban.

The men from the Zulu kingdom were forced to make a number of changes for the clash as they missed a few players such as the banned Makazole Mapimpi and the injured duo of Bongi Mbonambi and Boeta Chamberlain.

However, the Sharks also welcomed back from injury their exciting utility back Aphelele Fassi, who is starting at fullback.

Meanwhile, the Bulls were beaten 31-7 by Lyon in their Champions Cup outing in France on Friday night.

Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Marnus Potgieter, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 1 Ox Nche.

Substitutes: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Lionel Cronje, 23 Francois Venter.

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