Durban — For Sharks CEO Ed Coetzee, there was a strong dose of déjà vu from the dark days of Covid-19 when he got the call on Friday telling him that the opposition could not put a team on the field due to sickness.
But this time the pandemic could not be blamed and the culprit is deemed to be a gastroenteritis epidemic that has downed most of the players and management from not one but two squads staying in uMhlanga Rocks ... Ulster at the Beverley Hills Hotel and the Glasgow Warriors at the neighbouring Pearls.
“I was shocked because we were not made aware of illness in the Ulster camp during the week and then we were told at 12 noon on Friday (the eve of the match at Kings Park) that they can’t play,” Coetzee said.
“More than anything, I am disappointed because we were keen to at last unleash the team we have been building for two years — finally we had virtually all the guys ready and available (a host of Springbok had returned), plus our new director of rugby, Neil Powell, has recently joined us and was building up to this big home game.”
The Sharks were truly on track to make a statement in the URC after blowing away the Warriors in the last quarter of last week’s match. The impact of the Boks in the second half was enormous while Bok enforcer Eben Etzebeth played 80 minutes of brutal rugby to win over the Kings Park faithful in one mighty performance.
For the Ulster game, the Boks were all in the starting line-up and the pack alone would have boasted five current Boks.
And to mark the occasion, the Sharks had targeted this mouth-watering game for their annual Sharkfest, which sees them putting on a variety of entertainment for fans of all ages.
And then at noon on Friday, the balloon was unceremoniously popped by the party poopers from Belfast ...
“We put a lot of resources into getting entertainment lined up for fans of all ages ... so much was in place, so yes, it is a very disappointing day,” Coetzee said.
Sadly, the Sharks had invited 60 stallholders to form a flea market to make themselves some cash and now these folk have lost out too.
“Our Springboks now leave us to join their training camp (in Stellenbosch) and while we might get a few back for next week’s match against the Bulls in Pretoria, it will be a while before we will have them all again,” Coetzee added.
The next time the Boks will be available is, in fact, the December 10 Heineken Cup fixture against Harlequins in Durban.
According to the URC, the Sharks v Ulster and Glasgow v Lions fixtures have been postponed, not cancelled, but future dates have not been set.
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