In a bizarre twist to the Sharks Super Rugby campaign, they could end up playing their tour match against the Crusaders at Twickenham in London on March 25.

In a bizarre twist to the Sharks Super Rugby campaign, they could end up playing their tour match against the Crusaders at Twickenham in London on March 25.

Sharks CEO Brian van Zyl has been approached by his Crusaders counterpart who has proposed the game as a money-spinner for his union following the financial losses the Crusaders are incurring because of their inability to use their earthquake-damaged home ground in Christchurch.

“It is under discussion but we will only make a decision on whether to accept after our game against the Rebels in Melbourne on Friday,” Van Zyl said last night. “While we understand their difficulties, we must make a rugby decision that is best for the Sharks’ campaign. It must be a decision in the best interests of the team and our stakeholders.”

The key problem is that the Sharks would have to travel 24 hours from New Zealand to London for the match, a debilitating flight and then after the match would fly 11 hours back to Johannesburg and then play the Stormers that week.

Next week the Sharks play the Chiefs in Hamilton and the Crusaders game is the tour finale.

The pro is that London and South Africa are just about in the same time zone, so the Sharks would not suffer the jet lag that usually sets them back when they travel home from New Zealand (10 hours time difference).

Twickenham, an 82 000 seater, would be packed out by ex-pat Kiwis and South Africans, and the Sharks would get a tidy share of the gate, but Van Zyl said that financial considerations would not affect a “rugby” decision.

The travel schedule would be more or less the same for the Crusaders, who play the Highlanders in Dunedin before the Sharks game.

An advantage the Sharks would have is that they play the Chiefs on a Friday whereas the Crusaders play the next day, and so would have one less recovery day in London.

Crusaders CEO Hamish Riach said: “We can’t get through our year on 10 500 people every week (in the smaller stadiums in outer Canterbury) so we want to do something big and dramatic.”

by Mike Greenaway .www.iol.co.za