The Sharks had more players than any other club in the victorious Springbok squad and while skipper Siya Kolisi has moved to Racing 92, Plumtree still has eight of the South African squad on his books.

But in another setback after a disastrous start to the season which has seen them lose all four games on a tour to Europe, it has emerged this week that Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi is likely to be out for the season, while another World Cup winner, prop Vincent Koch, faces three months on the sideline. Both players suffered knee injuries at the tournament in France.

Connacht coach Pete Wilkins said this week that the Sharks will be formidable even if they don’t have their current South African players as they also have a large number of former Springboks.

Connacht have a decent record in South Africa, winning four of their nine games there although their 33-30 win over the Lions in April 2022 is their only victory over one of the four big franchises currently in the URC.

Prior to that Connacht twice defeated the Kings in Port Elizabeth and were victorious over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

Last year they went on an early season tour and lost to the Stormers and Bulls, before going down again to the Stormers in Cape Town in the quarter-finals of the competition.

Lock Murray said the fortnight away at the start of last season helped them gel as a squad and as they settled into their base at Umhlanga, 25 kilometres north of Durban, the 24-year old said he expects the same this time.

“It is a mini-tour and the group gets so much tighter and so much better when you have so much more opportunities to bounce ideas off each other,” said the Roscommon native.

“It’s going to be a fun challenge and we are going to embrace it.”