Sharks set to sign two World Cup winners – report

It’s been a challenging season to date for the Sharks, with injuries to key players and some erratic overall form ultimately leading to what has been a highly disappointing URC campaign.

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However, as the team begins to plot a way forward, there is a notable report from RugbyPass that suggests agreements are in place for World Cup-winning Springboks Andre Esterhuizen and Trevor Nyakane to join the Sharks.

There have previously been reports that the Sharks would need to fork out a sizeable transfer fee to secure the transfer of Esterhuizen, who is under contract with Harlequins until June 2025, but it seems progress has been made in this regard.

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Big boost if Sharks can bag these two World Cup winners

Esterhuizen would add depth at inside centre following the recent exit of Rohan Janse van Rensburg, while another possible target Jan Serfontein recently decided to extend his contract with French club Montpellier.

Meanwhile, it appears that the Sharks may have also done enough to convinced Nyakane to turn down a return to the Bulls, and head to Durban where he could join other World Cup winning props Ox Nche and Vincent Koch.

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Signs of progress

The Sharks suffered a narrow defeat to the Stormers this past weekend, but there is hope that building blocks are slowly falling into place for better times ahead.

“The Stormers, where they are right now as a team is where we want to be,” Plumtree said. “They worked really hard defensively. We created a couple of opportunities, but we didn’t finish them off. They scrambled back and were able to stop us. That’s why they are where they are.

“It’s a tough outfit. I’m just happy we never gave up. We came back into the contest at the end. We didn’t execute that lineout which was a coach killer, but that’s the way it goes.

“I just want us to get better and better and improve. It’s frustrating for me, because I haven’t had the opportunity to work with our full-strength pack, especially in these big derbies.

“Our boys tried real hard today. But there’s a difference between our first group and second group in what we’ve got. That’s a real challenge for us. We need to do well without our Springboks.  We’ve had a lot of key players injured this year.

“If we can get more of them back, I reckon we will be a force. But we aren’t there yet. We will get there.”

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