Durban - The bad news for Sharks fans is that Thomas “The Tank” du Toit is steaming off to Bath in the English Premiership but the better news is that his likely replacement is Springbok Vincent Koch.
Also, the Sharks are set to welcome back their former attack coach David Williams, who served under Sean Everitt for a period and was highly regarded by the players.
Williams has been with Bath but has recently parted ways with them.
The Sharks have been after Koch ever since his English club, Wasps, went insolvent last year. The 32-year-old Koch was signed by French club Stade Francais on a temporary deal but the Sharks want to offer him something more substantial because of the loss of Du Toit.
Also, Edinburgh want Sharks prop Carlu Sadie to join the procession of South African props to the Scottish capital — WP Nel and Pierre Schoeman are already there.
Like Springbok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, Koch originally played for the Pumas in Nelspruit. He made it big at the Stormers before moving to Saracens where he enjoyed an illustrious career, playing 110 games between 2016 and 2022.
Koch then moved to Wasps only for the former England champions to go belly up when they could not pay their bills.
If the Sharks do nail Koch, he will join fellow 2019 World Cup-winning forwards Eben Etzebeth, Bongi Mbonambi and Ox Nche.
Williams would join the Sharks after the conclusion of the current United Rugby Championship. The Sharks’ backroom staff is going to be revamped ahead of the new season, with conditioning coach Allan Temple-Jones, scrum coach Akvsenti Giorgadze and forwards consultant Jannick Bru set to depart.
IOL Sport