The Sharks have lost lock Alistair Hargreaves for three weeks as a result of the shoulder injury he sustained playing against the Stormers in Durban last weekend.
Hargreaves has seen a specialist for scans and the results of those scans have revealed that he has a hairline fracture of the AC joint.
Whilst Hargreaves is a blow for the Sharks he is the only player who has been ruled out following the loss to the Stormers.
“Alistair has suffered a hairline fracture of the AC joint and will be out for two to three weeks,” Sharks coach John Plumtree told News24.
“The loss of Alistair is an opportunity for Steven Sykes to step up to the plate as a lineout man.”
“He has been part of our system for a long time and he worked with guys like Albert van den Berg so this is his chance to use his experience and take charge,” said Plumtree.
“Ross Skeate will come back into the squad, but I don’t want to put too much responsibility on him to sort out our lineout problems as he has been out for a while.”
“He will join the 22, and fortunately Gerhard Mostert is there to offer a big target to aim at in the lineouts.”
Hargreaves was the Sharks main jumper against the Stormers and after analysing the video of the game they have decided that the big problem against the Stormers was their line out and the poor option taking.
“There were some poor options from us at the lineout and there were also some really poor executions.
“We need a lineout that can win ball, so it is a concern and something we are working on this week. We have just got to execute properly. ”
“There are a number of things that go into a lineout – there is the lift, the jump, the throw, and all of those things need to be in synch.”