The Hollywoodbets Sharks will have a tough task against Connacht in Galway on Saturday at 20:35, a venue South African teams have struggled at in the past.
Connacht’s most recent victory over a South African opponent was when they visited Durban in November 2023, winning 13-12, while the Hollywoodbets Sharks also lost on their only previous visit to Galway, 24-12 in January 2023.
But the men from Durban, who won the EPCR Challenge Cup last season, will take a lot of confidence with them into the match, as they had to dig very deep in their last two Carling Currie Cup matches to take the title this season, with away victories in the semi-final and final in the last fortnight.
Yet they only won four of their 18 Vodacom URC matches last season, finishing down in 14th in the table.
So there’s plenty of room for improvement there.
Yet they will head into the campaign suitably boosted by a first Currie Cup title since 2018, with full-back Jordan Hendrikse having landed a last-minute penalty from well inside his own half to secure the 16-14 victory over the Lions in Johannesburg.
Connacht boss Pete Wilkins admitted he was left with “very much mixed feelings” following his team’s 35-33 defeat away to Munster in Round 1, saying there was “huge disappointment” after putting themselves in a position to claim “a famous result”, but that it was also a “really promising performance”.
“I think we'll see the positives of that and it's important we build on it against the Sharks,” he said.
Teams
Connacht Rugby: 15 Santiago Cordero, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Piers O’Conor, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Shane Jennings, 10 Josh Ioane, 9 Ben Murphy, 8 Cian Prendergast (c), 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 David O’Connor, 4 Niall Murray, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley. Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Oisín Dowling, 20 Shamus Hurley-Langton, 21 Caolin Blade, 22 David Hawkshaw, 23 Paul Boyle.
Hollywoodbets Sharks: 15 Jordan Hendrikse, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka (c), 6 James Venter, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu. Replacements: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Reniel Hugo, 21 Tino Mavesere, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Gurshwin Wehr.