Esterhuizen's strong challenge to the Sharks

SPOTLIGHT: Sharks and Springbok centre Andre Esterhuizen has laid the challenge to his team to play to their full potential ahead of their Round Five United Rugby Championship clash against Scarlets.

Much has been said after the Sharks went down in their URC Round Four clash against Ulster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park this past weekend, with a contingent of 17 Boks in their matchday squad.

The Sharks will have another opportunity at home on Saturday to record their first victory of the season against the bottom of the table Scarlets.

They will, however, be without the services of Makazole Mapimpi, who has been banned for five matches for a dangerous tackle and Ruan Dreyer, who suffered a knee injury in the loss to Ulster.

Esterhuizen made no secret of the fact that the Sharks underperformed so far this season, and especially against Ulster.

He didn’t beat around the bush in his message to his team from a leadership perspective, challenging them to play to their full potential this weekend.

“The key message is for everyone to get on the same page for us to play at the level we know we’re capable of,” Esterhuizen said.

“There’s no use having a superstar team, but we don’t play like one.

“Everything revolves around us to play like a team, and we need to stick together whether things go well or badly.

“That’s the thing about team sports. You have to stick through the tough and the good.”

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Last season, the Sharks pipped Scarelts 12-3 in an error-ridden clash at Kings Park and will need to be much better this time around to ensure a positive result.

Esterhuizen gave his thoughts on what he expects from the Scarlets, who will be just as desperate for their first win.

“Every time we’ve played the Scarlets, they made the game quite messy because they like things to get loose to play off turnovers.

“Last year we’ve seen when we played them here [at Hollywoodbets Kings Park], it was quite a messy game consisting of many breakdown turnovers and phase attacks.

“We’re expecting a hard and physical battle, which is always the case when playing against a Welsh side.

“They’ve got a lot of flair as well. They like [to play] an attacking, running brand of rugby, so we need to counter that and play to our strengths.”