By Craig Lewis

There is no doubt that the Sharks are at present in the habit of winning, with the team relaxed, confident and acutely aware of what their strengths are.

But they will also know just how quickly things can change, and that should keep them on their toes this Saturday when they face the Griquas at the Absa Stadium.

Over the past few weeks, the Sharks have certainly performed with aplomb, and even without key players and during periods of play when they’ve been under the cosh, they have had the composure to find ways to win.

However, things can just as easily start to unravel, as they learnt in 2009’s Super 14, and they can ill-afford to take their foot off the gas against the log-leading Griquas.

“We know Griquas will be hurting after their first loss of the season against the Bulls in a match they perhaps should have won,” Sharks coach John Plumtree said on Monday.

“They’ll be very physical and our forwards will need to muscle up.”

Unfortunately for the Sharks, though, a number of front-rowers are nursing injuries after Saturday’s bruising game against the Lions, with Deon Carstens carrying a niggle, Pat Cilliers suffering from a hamstring strain and young Wiehahn Herbst battling with a bit of a back injury.

All three will be very closely monitored throughout the week, and with the Sharks likely to be without their Tri-Nations Boks – including Jannie du Plessis – they will be desperately holding thumbs that things are looking a little brighter later in the week.

Nevertheless, Plumtree said he had expressed to the team that they would have to be ready to tackle numerous challenges during the next few crucial rounds of the Absa Currie Cup.

“This group is now going to take us through to the business end of the competition and they are the ones who will determine what position we are in when the Springboks return. In 2008 we were able to get onto a winning roll at about this stage in the tournament and we need to repeat that if we hope to be in a good position to make the play-offs later on.”

And this weekend the Sharks may well look to keep the ball in hand a bit more after having to make an inordinate amount of tackles against the Lions, which ultimately saw them drop off the pace and let in three tries in the last 10 minutes of the match.

Certainly, they will have more of a licence to attack if game-breakers such as Juan Martin Hernandez and Rory Kockott are passed fit for this game, but both may well need to be brought back slowly after being sidelined with an ankle and shoulder injury respectively.

Either way, the likes of Monty Dumond, Riaan Swanepoel, Andries Strauss and Stefan Terblanche are certainly steering the backline in the right direction as it is.

In addition, the Sharks will also have their second-row stocks bolstered in the near future, with both Johann Muller and Alistair Hargreaves not looking far away from a return to action.

• • This article was originally published on page 18 of Daily News on August 18, 2009