The Sharks have their own Mt. Everest to climb

If one were to ask people who the first person was to climb Mt. Everest, their answers would invariably be Sir Edmund Hillary.

While technically correct, and the reason I say technically is because Hillary was the first to successfully climb to the summit, there were 8 other expeditions before him. The 1922 British Mount Everest expedition was the first mountaineering expedition with the express aim of making the first ascent of Mount Everest.

Between 1922 and 1953 there were 8 expeditions that tried and failed. The term failed is used lightly I might add, climbers succumbed from illnesses ranging from malaria to altitude sickness, and those were the lucky ones. Death was the common reason for the majority of the failures.

Why am I writing about the ascent of Mt. Everest on a rugby site you might ask, well simply put, Jake White and his Sharks are currently standing at the foot of their own Mt. Everest and tomorrow evening when Steve Walsh blows his whistle to signal the kick off between them and the Highlanders, they will take their first steps on a journey that will hopefully end with them planting the South African flag on the summit in three weeks time.

It’s a journey that will span continents and criss cross oceans, but the prize could not be sweeter for a union that has started similar journeys 14 times before in it’s history, but has ultimately succumbed before reaching the apex. Fourteen times they have featured in playoff matches, and so far they have fallen just short every single time.

The task at hand for the Sharks is not a difficult one, it’s a damn near impossible one. And that’s not just words, that’s what history tells us. But history is being made every single day, and I do believe that between 1921 and 1952 after every expedition that tried and failed to climb that mountain, people were saying that it is impossible and that it can’t be done.

So will 2014 be the 15th time that the Sharks try and fail, or will 2014 be the first time that the Sharks scale that mountain and win the Super Rugby?

In 2007 the Bulls didn’t top the log, but they had a match at home and then a 2 hour flight to Durban. The rest is history, and lest I scare away any Sharks supporters, I won’t delve into the details of that match.

Let’s climb straight into the meat and bones of what an epic ask it will be for the Sharks and for Bismarck to lift the Super Rugby trophy aloft.

No team has won the title after finishing outside the top two after the league. Now in the 2004-2011 format that would surely have changed at some point, but since the added Wildcard round, questions surface over its credibility.

Sharks boss Jake White rounded on this in his column for The Citizen, asking: “Why play these matches at all if they have little or no chance of making it through to the final?” which is a fair point.

Really, and no disrespect to them, but with the tough travel factor is anyone backing the Highlanders to win (again) in Durban, catch a long back to Sydney to beat the ‘Tahs and then fully recover to also triumph in an away final?

Statistics by: Planet Rugby

Therein lies the question of can any team finishing outside the top two, in a day and age where home advantage is so vital, actually win the trophy?

Again the numbers highlight the difficulties facing the likes of the Chiefs and Highlanders, given that in 36 play-off matches in the last decade only five have been won by the away side. That’s an 86 percent success rate for the hosts, while 8 out of 10 sides who finished as league winners went on to win the title, with only the Bulls winning a final on the road, albeit not far from home, at the Sharks.

White added: “If this (Saturday’s games between third to sixth in the standings) is purely a money-making device, surely it would be preferable for the teams that finish one and two to go straight to a final. They could play home and away so they would both have to travel.”

But as the former Springbok coach touched upon, this extra round is of course a money spinner for the competition. Yet with the glass half full, why shouldn’t those franchises who finished in fifth and sixth place have a crack at what on paper is looking like the impossible.

Naturally the Chiefs, Highlanders and also the Sharks and Brumbies will travel into this weekend full of optimism, but history and statistics are very much against them.

Super Rugby play-offs since 2004:

• 2004: Three home wins in knockouts – Brumbies won title after finishing top of table
• 2005: Three home wins in knockouts – Crusaders won title after finishing top of table
• 2006: Three home wins in knockouts – Crusaders won title after finishing top of table
• 2007: Two home wins, one away in knockouts – Bulls won title after finishing second
• 2008: Three home wins – Crusaders won title after finishing top in regular-season
• 2009: Three home wins – Bulls won title after finishing top in regular-season
• 2010: Three home wins – Bulls won title after finishing top in regular-season
• 2011 (new format): Four home wins, one away – Reds won title after finishing top of table
• 2012: Three home wins, two away – Chiefs won title after finishing second but hosted final
• 2013: Four home wins, one away – Chiefs won title after finishing top in regular-season

Can the Sharks change the course of history in 2014. We will know the answer to that soon enough, but at this stage of their ascent, they need South Africa and all South Africans to give them that all important push to see which heights they can reach.

The flag that they will plant on that summit, should they reach it, might be black and white, but if you look closely you will notice it has a tinge of green, red, blue and yellow in it as well.

They are carrying the flag of South Africa.