After crashing out of the Investec Champions Cup, the Sharks head to Lyon’s fortress within the EPCR Problem Cup Spherical of 16, decided to defend their title and conquer a venue that has buried many.
The Sharks are the defending Problem Cup champions, having overwhelmed Gloucester 36-22 at Tottenham Stadium within the 2023-24 last. Although the Sharks’ final 16 showdown with Lyon places them in acquainted territory, they’ve taken a really completely different highway so far within the match, and with out their most fearsome ahead.
4 months previous to Eben Etzebeth in September turning into the most-capped participant in Springbok historical past, the confrontational lock made historical past when he captained the Sharks to Problem Cup glory, claiming South Africa’s first European membership cup title.
After a late begin to final season, Etzebeth returned in time to revive a Sharks workforce that arrived in Spherical 12 of the 2023-24 Vodacom URC marketing campaign with a 1-10 file.
The veteran enforcer put the workforce on his again within the Problem Cup, chewing up ball-carriers and busting tackles to spark a revival. Etzebeth scored three tries throughout a heavy-handed victory in opposition to Pau and a nail-biting loss to the Cheetahs earlier than the Sharks tore into the quarter-finals with an combination rating of 114-19 in large wins in opposition to Oyonnax, Dragons, and Zebre.
The margins narrowed considerably in playoff wins in opposition to Edinburgh after which ASM Clermont Auvergne earlier than the Sharks met Gloucester in London within the Might finale.
PLUS: Sharks ‘know what’s coming’ in Lyon
Nevertheless, as is so typically the case in rugby, the narrative has fully flipped over the previous 11 months.
The Sharks are severe contenders for a top-four end within the URC, however their Champions Cup playoff hopes had been shredded after successive defeats at English Premiership contenders Leicester, after which in opposition to High 14 heavyweights Toulouse and Bordeaux.
Etzebeth was on deck for the win in opposition to Sharks opening win in opposition to Exeter Chiefs however suffered a concussion in that match which dominated him out of the three ensuing Champions Cup losses.
Not like final season, when the Sharks might scent the Indian Ocean as they kicked off their Problem Cup playoffs in opposition to Zebre and Edinburgh, the town of Lyon stand in the way in which to this yr’s quarter-finals, and Matmut Stadium has confirmed to be a graveyard for a number of the sport’s greatest.
“It’s one place that I couldn’t win,” Springbok legend and Cheetahs director of rugby Frans Steyn mentioned within the week main as much as the Spherical 4 showdown in opposition to Lyon in January.
Lyon gained 68-21, hammering the Cheetahs with 10 tries in a ruthless show. The Sharks can be determined to treatment the frustration of their Champions Cup marketing campaign by retaining their historic European title, and the Lyon gauntlet could also be precisely the problem required to whet the Sharks’ urge for food as they step into Matmut’s cauldron.
With their Champions Cup desires dashed, the Sharks are out for blood, and Lyon’s fortress affords the proper stage to show they’re nonetheless Europe’s hungriest pack.
A win right here will bury the ghosts of this season’s setbacks and propel them towards one other Problem Cup crown.
Picture: Steve Haag Sports activities/Gallo Photographs
