British and Irish Lions

The Sharks, who will provide the 2009 British & Irish Lions with one of their toughest non-Test assignments on next year's tour, are hoping to keep the South African flag flying high in the Super 14 tournament when they travel to Australia for this weekend's semi-final shoot-out with the NSW Waratahs.

The Durban-based outfit will meet Ian McGeechan's men at the ABSA Stadium on 10 June next year and are bidding for a third final in Super 12 and 14 rugby. Last year they were beaten by a point at their ABSA Stadium by arch-rivals the Blue Bulls.

A 47-25 home soil victory over the Chiefs last weekend enabled them to achieve their goal of winning by more than 18 points to secure a last four berth. That victory ensured they finished third in the table, earning them a trip to Sydney to meet the Waratahs on Saturday. Two stunning tries by No 8 Ryan kankowski were the pick of the seven scored by the Sharks.

None of the Sharks players were included in new Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers' 42-man training squad this week because of their on-going Super 14 commitments. That is likely to change once their season is over, with players of the calibre of Bryan Habana coming into the reckoning.

The Lions have a good record against non-Test sides in Durban. The Sharks were born out of the old Natal province, a team which the Lions have met 10 times on nine previous tours and never lost.

Next year's tour will, of course, be the first on which a Lions party has met South African Super 14 teams in their current form.

The full list of Lions results against non-Test teams from Durban is as follows:

1903: Beat Durban 22-0; 1910: Beat Natal 18-16 and 19-13; 1924: Drew with Natal 3-3; 1938: Beat Natal 15-11; 1955: Beat Natal 11-8; 1962: Beat Natal 13-3; 1968: Beat Natal 17-5; 1974: Beat Natal 34-6; 1980: Beat Natal 21-15; 1997: Beat Natal 42-12.

Assistant coach Graham Rowntree says The British & Irish Lions will have to be fully focussed to avoid a potential banana skin when they face The Barbarians a week today.

Three former British & Irish Lions will line-up against an England XV at Twickenham Stadium on Sunday as the Barbarians warm-up for their showdown with the 2013 tourists in Hong Kong next week.