Sharks hunting down top spot

The Sharks worked hard to reach the Currie Cup summit, but young hooker Fez Mbatha insists their game is far from perfect.

Mbatha and his teammates lead the domestic competition’s standings with 43 points with just two matches left to play in the round-robin format.

The Sharks are two points ahead of second-placed Cheetahs. Their last two matches — against the Lions at Kings Park on Saturday (7.05pm) and Western Province a week later — will be critical in the battle to finish top of the log.

The Durbanites, coached by Joey Mongalo this season, are on a six-match winning streak and Mbatha believes being able to get a few things right in their game was crucial to this resurgence.

“It has been about getting the momentum and just keeping the guys in that understand the system to make sure we execute to the best of our abilities on Saturdays,” said Mbatha.

“I feel like we have done quite a bit of that, but there’s still a lot to improve on. Our game is far from perfect. There’s a lot of improvements we need. We are not quite there yet. It’s all about continuous improvements.”

Recent victories helped improve the mood of the players who are desperate to bring silverware to Kings Park for the first time since their Currie Cup success in 2018.

“It’s a nice environment to be in. We are all aligned to one goal,” there said ’Mbatha. s a lot of hard “It’s work lekker being but put in behind the scenes at the moment and for us it’s just to keep improving at small things that we can get better at.”

The clash promises to be an exciting one as the fifth-placed Lions are fighting to get into the top four which guarantees a spot in the semifinals.

The Sharks are eager to remain at the summit to host the semifinal and final, should they reach it, in Durban.

The Lions head to the east coast on the back of their 32-12 victory over Province.

Meanwhile, the Sharks have signed their former player Coenie “Shrek” Oosthuizen. The Springbok prop rejoins the Durban franchise from English Premiership side Sale Sharks.

“Welcome back to the [Sharks] tank, Coenie Oosthuizen,” the Durban team tweeted on Wednesday.

Oosthuizen joined Manchester’s Sharks in 2019 from their KwaZulu-Natal namesake. Confirming the player’s departure from the English club, Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson said “Shrek” was a colossal figure at the side where he made 94 appearances.

Oosthuizen, who has 30 Bok caps, was one of the players who helped Sale reach their first Premiership final in 17 years, where they lost 35-25 to Saracens on Saturday.