KEY POINTS:
Nine months have passed since the 2007 Super 14 final at the Shark Tank in Durban, nine months in which, to borrow from John Cleese and Fawlty Towers, nobody dared mention the war in Durban. New Zealanders will understand.
Forgetting has been difficult considering sports broadcasting here is punctuated with flashes of Bryan Habana's injury-time, title-clinching try for the Bulls, meaning Sharks fans to this day curse Steve Walsh for going missing in those final mad moments in which the Bulls came from behind to snatch the spoils. Again, New Zealanders can empathise.
But it is 2008 and the Sharks have climbed back on their bike and what chance of their going one minute better than they did in 2007?
The good news for their fans is that they are shaping up to be South Africa's best shot at the title, despite having suffered a massive brain drain. Lost to European clubs are RWC Boks John Smit, Percy Montgomery and Butch James, while Bob Skinstad, Warren Britz and Johan Ackermann have retired (although the latter, all 37 years of him, has agreed to help out while his replacement, young Steven Sykes, recovers from injury). The Sharks' excellent coaching combination of Dick Muir and John Plumtree has mostly looked to within their squad to replace those lost, but they also bought offshore. All eyes will be on James's replacement at first five-eighths, French glamour boy Frederic Michalak, and there has also been a lot of interest in the signing of Epi Taione, the big Tongan who had such a good World Cup at inside centre, although the Sharks are looking to use him at flank. Muir has also enticed home former Springbok wing/fullback Stefan Terblanche from Welsh club Ospreys.
Michalak says he chose the Sharks because he felt he would fit in well with their uninhibited style. He will indeed have at his disposal a backline that is up there with the best in the competition. Michalak, at 25, is an old-timer in a backline with an otherwise average age of 23. Many of these players were blooded by Muir when they were 19 or 20, so the likes of Ruan Pienaar, Frans Steyn, JP Pietersen, Bradley Barritt and Waylon Murray are no longer raw.
Last year, only the Crusaders fashioned more line-breaks than the Sharks yet the Sharks battled to earn try-scoring bonus points. Expect this backline to be more clinical in their finishing now they are more mature.
The pack is built around indestructible flank AJ Venter, World Cup tight forwards in BJ Botha, Bismarck du Plessis and brother Jannie, Johann Muller (the captain) and bright young things No 8 Ryan Kankowski and flank Keegan Daniel.
It is a well-balanced side, if a little short on experience, and as Muir says: "I don't know how consistent we will be but I can promise you we will never be dull."
