Beast Mtawarira taken out of Shark attack

The Beast's absence from Friday's clash has been attributed to a planned workload for leading Springboks but the absence of the hulking prop and Sharks captain will be a relief to the hosts as they battle to remain competition leaders.

The Sharks are in buoyant mood as they look to back up from their narrow win against the defending champions Otago Highlanders.

The Highlanders this week host the ACT Brumbies in a clash of two sides suffering a mid-season slump.

The Melbourne Rebels, who have replaced the Brumbies as the number one Australian side, should cement their positon when they play Auckland Blues who are at the bottom of the New Zealand group.

Of the leading South Africa sides, the Golden Lions are at home to a Wellington Hurricanes unit who blew a chance last week to topple the Chiefs, while Western Stormers play the NSW Waratahs.

When the Chiefs and Sharks clashed last year, red cards flowed with three players sent off in a dramatic opening half hour when the Sharks came out on top 12-11.

But Sharks coach Gary Gold wants no ill-tempered repeat this time.

"The win against the Highlanders was a great confidence boost for the players," he said, adding that against the Chiefs "discipline is going to be key and we need to stay grounded".

The Chiefs retained their competition lead last week but the game ended with uncontested scrums when tighthead prop Siate Tokolahi was injured as they clung to a one-point lead and their scrum was under pressure.

A New Zealand radio station has since posted a video on Facebook showing Tokolahi running freely from a scrum and a lineout with no contact from any other player before going down injured.

The Chiefs have made five changes from that side with Tokolahi named on the bench and a start for Japan Test prop Hiroshi Yamashita. Mtawarira is one of six changes for the Sharks.

- 'Need a lift' -

The Highlanders and Brumbies have both won five of eight games and while that leaves the Highlanders fourth in an intense New Zealand group, the Brumbies are second in Australia, one point behind the Rebels.

The Brumbies "certainly need a lift," according to coach Stephen Larkham.

But he will be without injured star Joe Tomane with a question mark over captain Stephen Moore who has a calf muscle injury.

The Hurricanes, despite having an impressive pack, have had plenty to work on ahead of playing the Lions in Johannesburg.

Beauden Barrett has lost his kicking radar and they were plagued by handling errors against the Chiefs.

The Lions head the Africa 2 conference and with a six-point buffer over the second-placed Sharks.

The Stormers, the premier South African side and Africa 1 conference leaders, should be too strong for the NSW Waratahs although their form is difficult to gauge.

Under a quirk of the conference system, the Stormers will not be required to play a New Zealand team before the play-offs while the Sharks will play all five.

The Blues are at the bottom of the New Zealand table, but Rebels coach Tony McGahan is taking no notice of their past results.

"The Blues in the New Zealand Conference would probably be first or second in the other conferences but they find themselves down the bottom in theirs because it’s so good," McGahan said.

The two sides have split their four previous Super Rugby meetings with the home side winning on each occasion.

In other games this weekend, the Western Force play the Northern Bulls in Perth, the Queensland Reds host the Central Cheetahs while the Southern Kings are in Buenos Aires to play the Jaguares.