Next week Patrick Lambie will have a pin removed from his fractured finger

In many ways Saturday’s home match against the Lions (7.05pm) is a must-win for the Sharks. Winning home matches is non-negotiable in a competition as tough as Super Rugby (and the Sharks have just lost to the Stormers at Kings Park); a fourth consecutive loss would seriously erode player confidence and, vitally, the Sharks need the log points to stay in touch with the leaders.

“It is a hugely important game for us,” assistant coach Grant Bashford admitted yesterday. “It adds up to a nine-point game for us because if we can get a bonus-point win we can come back from next week’s bye with 29 points having picked up four from the bye, and then we will be right up there at the top of the conference.”

The Super Rugby log can be misleading because teams that have already had their bye have a game in hand but that does not guarantee them points while the teams still to have their byes are assured of four. The Sharks are in third place behind the Stormers and the Bulls, both of whom had had their byes.

“We can’t make the mistake of last year where we allowed ourselves to fall too far behind (by losing their first five games),” Bashford said. “We then went unbeaten for seven games but hardly moved up the log and missed out on the semi-finals, so you don’t want to fall off the pace.”

In front of the Sharks is a Lions team that is second from bottom on the overall standings but could be a lot higher if they had not had lapses in concentration.

“The Lions have been in a position to win most of their games,” the backline coach. “They are playing good, ball-in-hand rugby and try to tire you out, but they often undo long passages of really good play with an elementary mistake.

“We certainly won’t be underestimating them. We have no reason to be complacent. This competition’s history is full of examples of under-performing teams beating big sides. This year we have already had the Cheetahs beating the Waratahs in Sydney.”

The Sharks themselves were below par in losing to the Stormers at the weekend. While the coaching staff refused to countenance the travel factor, the Sharks clearly looked tired.

“We were not that far off cracking the win,” Bashford said. “In the Currie Cup final against Western Province last October, we took every opportunity we created. In this game, we broke their line regularly but could not cash in. And sometimes we were not smart in our play in that we ran when we should have kicked and kicked when we should have run.”

The line-outs were not up to scratch and trying to sort it out in training this week has been made difficult by the shoulder injury that has laid low Alistair Hargreaves.

He is doubtful for the match and is likely to be replaced by Gerhard Mostert, with one of Anton Bresler or Ross Skeate (who made his comeback from injury for the Sharks XV last week) on the bench.

Next week Patrick Lambie will have a pin removed from his fractured finger and will be available for the Sharks’ first match after their bye, against the Hurricanes in Durban on April 23.