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Durban - Andy Goode did make it to Durban after all, and their is a good chance that the former England flyhalf will get to make his first appearance in front of the Sharks fans in Saturday's appetising Super 14 clash with the Reds at ABSA Stadium.
There was word from the Sharks camp during the tour of New Zealand and Australia that Goode would not come back to South Africa due to problems with his work permit. But those have subsequently been sorted out, and he will play a full part in the rest of the Super 14 season.
What could prevent Goode from playing on Saturday is the hamstring twinge that has been troubling him in recent weeks. His participation in the game will depend on how he gets through a training session in Durban on Thursday morning, after which the team will be announced.
The Sharks are confident though that Goode will be cleared to play, which is a good thing as they are going to struggle to find a replacement for Adrian Jacobs at outside centre and they would prefer to keep changes to a minimum, particularly as they sounded off their tour with two wins and are now picking up momentum.
The word from Durban is that the Sharks may well spring a rabbit out of the hat by selecting Stefan Terblanche at outside centre, and not Waylon Murray. Terblanche played wing in the last two games, but Odwa Ndungane is back from injury this week.
Young Patrick Lambie also made an impressive start to his Sharks career at fullback and was a big part of the two victories in Dunedin and Wellington, so the prospect of the experienced Terblanche moving back to the last line of defence is not a strong one. Jacobs is out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.
The other injury concern in the Sharks camp is the broken finger suffered by Johann Muller against the Highlanders. He missed the Hurricanes game and the experienced lock's condition will be assessed at the Thursday training session.
