Sharks lose duo to injury

Cape Town - The Sharks have lost two key players ahead of their final Super Rugby tour match against the Chiefs at Yarrow Stadium on Friday.

Having edged the 14-man Highlanders 15-14 this past weekend, the Sharks will be desperate for another victory as they look to get into the playoff mix. 

But that quest has received a major blow with the news that scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and loose forward Philip van der Walt have returned home injured. 

Reinach (knee) will be replaced in the squad by Stefan Ungerer while Van der Walt's (neck) place will be taken by Giant Mtyanda. 

Coach Gary Gold, meanwhile, praised his side for their efforts against the Highlanders despite drawing a blank in the try-scoring department. 

"The character shown by the guys was huge," said Gold.

"We showed incredible fight to hold out for what is a memorable victory over here, a difficult place to come to, especially when they’re reigning champions.

"We’re disappointed not to have scored tries, it’s something we are going to be putting a lot of time and attention towards

"We had a couple of try-scoring opportunities and a few momentum build-ups that we didn’t finish, but the Highlanders are a good defensive team as well and against a quality team like them, playing at home, keeping them out aside from that one try – which was well taken – was a creditable performance.

"Although we didn’t score any tries, there was a lot of intent shown and some fantastic phases we put together. Our confidence is getting there."