Bench role for Lambie against Sunwolves?

Cape Town - The good news for the Sharks is that they are a win away from securing a spot in the Super Rugby quarter-finals. 

Victory over the Sunwolves in Durban on Friday night will ensure that Gary Gold's men finish 8th on the overall log as the take the wildcard playoff spot in the South African Group. 

The bad news is that they are still without flyhalf and captain Pat Lambie. 

Lambie has been out with a concussion since June 11 when he was knocked out cold by Irish flank CJ Stander while on Springbok duty in the first Test at Newlands. 

Now, with the Super Rugby playoffs approaching, Gold will be holding thumbs that his chief playmaker can take to the field against the Sunwolves.

"I hope so, like I hoped at the beginning of the week," Gold said after Saturday's 26-10 win over the Cheetahs.

"Patrick has to be symptom free before he can return to play. Up until yesterday (Friday), that wasn't the case."

Gold said that Lambie was constantly being monitored, and he hoped he could start doing some exercise on Monday. 

But with each passing week that Lambie is out the more his match fitness takes a knock.

"Patrick has also got to the situation now where he’s getting into a fourth week, so he’s going to want to play," said Gold.

"He’s going to want to train a bit first. It’s also not right to throw him into the deep end.

"If it was an ideal world for me the perfect situation would be for Patrick to be picked and maybe put him on the bench."