Sharks can still spoil Jaguares' party

The chances of the Jaguares winning the South African Super Rugby conference for the first time were strengthened considerably at the weekend but there is one local team that still has their destiny in their hands.

The Cell C Sharks’ 27-17 win over the Emirates Lions in Durban on Saturday ensured that they ended the weekend in second position on the log, three points behind the Jaguares, who scored their second win of their Australasian tour when they beat the Waratahs 23-15 earlier in the day.

Although they won against the Lions, the Sharks had to rely on a gritty defensive effort and two intercept tries and the smart money won’t be on them winning when they hit the road for their last two matches of the regular season against the Jaguares and the DHL Stormers.

However, with the Sharks it does appear they reserve some of their best performances for when they are far from home. And Buenos Aires is a long way from Durban, plus they did win there the season before last.

So there is hope, both for them and perhaps even more so for the other South African teams who will be holding thumbs that they halt the Jaguares strong and increasingly inexorable march to top position.

Even though they lost on Saturday, the Lions look as though they are rediscovering some of the form that saw them win the conference three years in a row. When it comes to which South African teams will challenge the Jaguares, this coming weekend’s clash between the Lions and Stormers in Johannesburg will be decisive.

The Stormers are also hitting form at just the right time and they are also at last getting their attacking game together.

They arguably still have the easiest run in of the local teams as after the Lions game they host the Sunwolves, who look like they have imploded, before going into the coastal derby that will end the league phase of the season for them.

The Jaguares though also play the Sunwolves, at home too, and will expect five points from that game. So even if the Sharks do knock over the South Americans the week before, or the Reds do it before that, the chances are that the chasing teams will need bonus points.

The Lions have to go to the Vodacom Bulls in the last week and also play the Hurricanes, the second best team in the competition if you ignore the conference format, as do the Sharks this coming weekend.

But for the Stormers, as with the other South African teams, their position is similar to that experienced by Liverpool in the run-in to the end of the English Premiership in the round ball game - they won’t finish top if the Jaguares keep winning. And they look likely to, with the game against the Sharks the only possible remaining stumbling block although Brad Thorn’s young Reds team might have other ideas in Brisbane this coming weekend.

The Bulls started the weekend as the top local team and in a position to challenge the Jaguares for Conference honours but their loss in Canberra to the Brumbies has changed the landscape for them and they will be up against it to maintain a challenge into the last week given that they have two games on New Zealand soil ahead of them and will be without Handre Pollard and Duane Vermeulen for both.

THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF SA CONFERENCE WITH THREE GAMES REMAINING:

Points separating first (Jaguares) from last (Stormers): 6

Points separating Jaguares from Sharks: 3

TEAMS’ REMAINING FIXTURES

Jaguares - Reds (away), Sharks (home) and Sunwolves (home).

Sharks - Hurricanes (home), Jaguares (away) and Stormers (away).

Bulls - Blues (away), Highlanders (away) and Lions (home).

Lions - Stormers (home), Hurricanes (home) and Bulls (away).

Stormers - Lions (away), Sunwolves (home) and Sharks (home).