THE start of the 2024/2025 Champions Cup marks an end of what someone could refer to as a honeymoon period for the Sharks.
The honeymoon part can be attributed to the fact that since winning the Challenge Cup in London at the end of May, the Sharks have really turned their fortunes around compared to where they were this time last year.
Of course, that has a lot to do with 2023 being a World Cup year, as the Sharks are laden with Springboks.
The Durbanites entered the Champions Cup nuptials via winning the Challenge Cup – the first ever South African side to win any European tournament – and it is now time to live up to their billing in competing with the elites.
They followed the Challenge Cup by winning the Currie Cup, and have grown from strength to strength, which can be highlighted by last weekend’s 21-15 result – their first ever United Rugby Championship win over the Stormers in seven outings.
But the reality is that Sharks probably have it worse than all the other South African teams in the Champions Cup this season, having been drawn to what can easily be referred to as the ‘Pool of Death’.
That of course is due to the fact that they are drawn with five previous winners, which include French giants Toulouse, who are the most successful side in the Champions Cup with six titles.
The John Plumtree-led side will open their Champions Cup campaign against English tourists Exeter Chiefs at Kings Park on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Exeter themselves were champions in the 2019/2020 season.
Other previous Champions Cup winners in Pool 1 are Leicester Tigers (two-time winners, whom the Sharks face at Welford Road next weekend) and Ulster, with only Bordeaux going in the same pot as the Sharks as non-previous champions.
Exeter, though, are facing a serious dip in form as they have lost all seven matches in the domestic Premiership.
Sharks loose forward Phepsi Buthelezi warned, though, about the danger their opponents pose.
After all, the phase they are undergoing is almost too similar to that of the Sharks last season.
“We actually think that Exeter are a tough side. They like to play with ball in hand, and they are well coached. So, we are not focusing on the recent results that haven’t gone their way. This is a very important game for us,” Buthelezi said yesterday.
On the other hand, the Sharks have only lost two games out of six in the URC this season, which were on tour against Connacht and Benetton.
“After that disappointing game against Benetton on tour, we received back some players who were part of the Springbok set-up. We actually had a conversation among ourselves. We had a look at what we stand for as the Sharks,” said Buthelezi, who made his Test debut this year.
“Obviously since then, results have gone our way in the URC. For us, (what is important) it is pushing each other to do better for the jersey.
“We also have great leaders who have come through and really led this group.”
Even with that record in the URC, topped by being at home again this weekend against an off-form English side, Buthelezi is still wary of the difference in the competitions, and what they could mean mentally to even the strugglers.
“We are obviously taking a lot of confidence from our positive results in URC. It is a matter of trying to translate it into this competition (the Champions Cup),” he said.
“Of course the competitions are different, with different teams from different countries. But that is what we want to do: to transfer our URC form (into the Champions Cup).”
After facing Leicester away next weekend, the Sharks return home for two testing local derbies.
They will host the Bulls in Durban, before closing the year against the Stormers in Cape Town on December 28.