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Cape Town - The stakes could not be higher.
The Golden Lions and the Sharks meet at Ellis Park on Friday in the final round of Currie Cup regular season. The winner will advance to the semi-finals while the loser will be sent packing.
For both unions, a group stage exit from this competition will never be acceptable.
"At the end of the day to win trophies is what Sharks rugby has always been about," Sharks coach Robert du Preez said from Durban this week.
"It's definitely something that we would like, to win the Currie Cup."
But, before that can happen, the Sharks need to ensure that they are alive and kicking at the business end of the competition.
They have lost Pat Lambie to the Springboks, but have gained the experience of Lwazi Mvovo and Lourens Adriaanse (released from the Bok squad) for what is the biggest game of their season so far.
Despite those players adding to the experience brought by the likes of Keegan Daniel, Michael Claassens, Chiliboy Ralepelle and Stephan Lewies, the Sharks have blooded a number of youngsters throughout the course of the competition.
"Keegan has got tons of experience as a captain and a player. The youngsters gain confidence from having those older heads around," he said.
"There is a lot of hard work that has gone in over the last 10 weeks or so that a lot of people have not seen. A lot of that stuff is not always going to come through in your first season.
"I'm very pleased with where we are as a team and they can just grow from here. This is just the start. If we win the Currie Cup it would be a cherry on top."
It will take a massive effort, though.
The Lions themselves have a returning Bok in the form of Malcolm Marx, who takes up a place on the bench, while Rohan Janse van Rensburg returns to the starting lineup.
Du Preez is under no illusions.
"We've had a very good week of training and we're ready to go," he said.
"It's going to take 80 minutes of concentration and using our opportunities and playing the game we want to play ... I'm not too concerned about how they are gong to play."
"For us it's a game that we have to win to play in the semi-final. It's going to be a test."
Kick-off on Friday is at 17:00.
Teams:
Golden Lions
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Koch Marx, 13 Jacques Nel, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Ruan Ackermann, 6 Kwagga Smith (captain), 5 Bobby de Wee, 4 JP du Preez, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Dylan Smith
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Fabian Booysen, 19 Cyle Brink, 20 Dillon Smit, 21 Howard Mnisi, 22 Sylvian Mahuza
Sharks
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Rhyno Smith, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Inny Radebe, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Keegan Daniel (captain), 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Thomas du Toit
Substitutes: 16 Franco Marais, 17 John-Hubert Meyer, 18 Stephan Lewies/Jean Droste, 19 Khaya Majola, 20 Stefan Ungerer, 21 Garth April, 22 Wandile Mjekevu
