Sharks rest their Springboks for Challenge Cup opener
André Esterhuizen, Edwill van der Merwe, Ethan Hooker, Ox Nché and Thomas du Toit will miss the Durban union’s Challenge Cup opener against Lyon in France on Saturday afternoon.
Their squad selection now highlights their desire to return to the higher-tier Champions Cup, after last season’s 10th-place URC finish saw them drop into the Challenge Cup.
Lyon, the Challenge Cup champions in 2022 currently sitting in eighth place on the Top 14 log after six rounds, will not forget how they knocked the 2024 champions, the Sharks, out of the last-16 in 2025.
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