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The Hollywoodbets Sharks are back at home this weekend in Round 17 of the United Rugby Championship, and following their successful, undefeated ‘snatch and grab’ European tour in which they beat Edinburgh and Ulster, the East Coast South African outfit face the Welsh Ospreys on Friday night.
All four of South Africa’s URC teams are preparing for the Welsh invasion as the cross-hemisphere tournament reaches the penultimate pool round, and the Hollywoodbets Sharks will be looking to join their local rivals, the Bulls, in the top four and confirm a home quarter-final, even though they know they have a playoff spot locked up.
The Sharks have lost just two of their last eight Vodacom United Rugby Championship matches and currently sit 4th on the log, knowing that a win on Friday night will guarantee them that crucial home quarter-final, as they are seven points ahead of the fifth-placed Cardiff.
Usually, Welsh rivals the Ospreys would want to do their rivals no favour, but the 11th-placed side will be looking to upset the home team in Durban and deny the Hollywoodbets Sharks a rare third win on the bounce and inflict only their second loss at Hollywoodbets Kings Park - with that sole loss being to Leinster.
The Ospreys themselves beat Welsh rivals the Dragons 57-24 last time out to keep their own top-8 playoff hopes alive.
However, the warm KwaZulu-Natal weather conditions and a passionate home fanbase will be important in the context of the fixture, as the respective season records for the two teams see the Sharks come into the round with 11 wins in their 16 matches, while the Ospreys have only recorded seven victories, however the visitors have scored more tries this season while also only conceding one more converted try in defence which suggests, despite the rugby cliche, that defence will be key.
Last time out in Belfast, the Sharks produced (for the second weekend in a row) a second-half fightback to overturn a disappointing halftime deficit into an unlikely win over Ulster to become the South African team to claim a W in Belfast.
This weekend for the Sharks, Ox Nche is ill and has been replaced by Dian Bleuler at loosehead prop in one of three changes to the starting lineup, with Siya Masuku replacing Jordan Hendrikse at flyhalf and Jurenzo Julius replacing Lukhanyo Am at outside centre. Masuku (although with far fewer games under his belt) has one of the best kicking percentages in the URC.
The Sharks must be in a confident mood to give Hendrikse a rest, as he has the second-highest points tally in the URC and is among two players in contention for the Vodacom URC Awards from the Sharks, alongside Siya Kolisi. The inspirational Bok leader has 7 tries in 10 appearances this campaign.
The Springbok captain does start, however, in a side that still packs plenty of Bok firepower, with Aphelele Fassi at fullback, Andre Esterhuizen at centre partnering with Julius, Mpimpi on the wing, Eben Etzebeth captaining from the second row, and two Boks bolstering the front row despite Nche’s absence - Vincent Koch and Bongi Mbonambi.
For the Ospreys, Dan Edwards sits third on the points-scoring log and is just behind the rested Hendrikse, with 5 tries in addition to his points from the boot, which has been ticking along at 75% accuracy.
The Sharks will need to keep that in mind as they have a poor disciplinary record and the joint second highest number of yellow cards, including in both recent away wins.
Both Keelan Giles and Kieran Hardy come into the round on 6 tries apiece for the Welsh side and will be looking to add to that tally if they have any hopes of securing just a second win in their last six visits to South Africa.
If the Sharks win, which we think they should, they play the Scarlets in the final round and could find themselves facing fierce coastal rivals the Stormers in the quarterfinals.
| # | Team | PL | W | L | D | PD | BP | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Leinster Rugby | 16 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 207 | 11 | 67 |
| 2 |  Glasgow Warriors | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 175 | 15 | 59 |
| 3 |  Vodacom Bulls | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 117 | 10 | 58 |
| 4 |  Hollywoodbets Sharks | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 53 |
| 5 |  Cardiff Rugby | 16 | 8 | 7 | 1 | -34 | 12 | 46 |
| 6 |  DHL Stormers | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 43 | 13 | 45 |
| 7 |  Scarlets | 16 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 41 | 9 | 43 |
| 8 |  Benetton Treviso | 16 | 8 | 7 | 1 | -102 | 7 | 41 |
| 9 |  Munster Rugby | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | -12 | 13 | 41 |
| 10 |  Edinburgh Rugby | 16 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 24 | 13 | 39 |
| 11 |  Ospreys | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 38 |
| 12 |  Ulster Rugby | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | -44 | 10 | 38 |
| 13 |  Emirates Lions | 16 | 7 | 9 | 0 | -26 | 7 | 35 |
| 14 |  Connacht Rugby | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | -52 | 15 | 35 |
| 15 |  Zebre Rugby | 16 | 5 | 10 | 1 | -120 | 7 | 29 |
| 16 |  Dragons | 16 | 1 | 15 | 0 | -226 | 5 | 09 |
