The Sharks paid a dear price for retaining their unbeaten Super 14 record, when they beat the Chiefs 22-15 in Hamilton at the weekend.

While the win kept the Sharks in the top four, they will have to make do without the services of powerhouse flanker Jean Deysel, who will return home following a knee ligament injury sustained early in the match against the Chiefs.

The ray of light around the dark injury cloud is that it is not the ACL — which could have meant up to nine months out of the game. The early prognosis is that Deysel should be back in action for the Sharks towards the latter stage of the Super 14 tournament.

However, they will have to complete their Australasian tour without the presence of the burly loose forward — as they tackle the Blues (in Auckland on Saturday), the Reds and the Western Force over the next three weeks.

Deysel's injury is a huge blow for a player who has certainly set the South African rugby scene alight and who was earmarked for higher honours.

And the Sharks will also have a huge gap to fill.

"We'll miss Jean and probably missed his presence [in the rest of the game]," coach John Plumtree said from the team's base in Auckland.

"But Keegan Daniel was very good," Plumtree added.

Assistant coach Grant Bashford added: "Losing anyone on tour is heart-breaking — certainly for them, but also the rest of the team — especially someone like a Jean Deysel."

Bashford explained what a valuable member of the squad Deysel is and how much of an impact he can make in a game.

"When he joined us in round six of the Currie Cup last year, that sort of changed our whole year — he's one of those players who brings something special to the team, so losing him certainly is a blow, we can't talk ourselves around it.

"However, we always say when someone goes it opens the door for someone else and we are just really fortunate to have a player of the calibre of Keegan Daniel to step in, while Skholiwe Ndlovu will step up onto the bench," he said.

Justin Downey, who played for the Sharks XV in their Vodacom Cup win over Boland at the weekend, will be flown out to join up with the team as replacement for Deysel.

Bashford added that his inclusion in the squad would be seamless considering he had trained with the Sharks before the start of the 2009 Super 14 competition.

With reference to the likes of Ndlovu and Downey, Bashford explained: "Those guys have worked really hard in pre-season training and the good thing about our system is that they'll be ready to play at this level because of the preparation they've had with the Sharks."

365

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