Munster head coach Clayton McMillan isn't expecting there to be any bad blood between his side and the Sharks when they meet in the BKT United Rugby Championship this Saturday.
It will be the first time the sides have clashed since last season’s epic quarter-final in Durban, where the Sharks prevailed in a place-kicking competition, following a 24-24 draw after extra time.
That game ended on a sour note, with accusations of gamesmanship against the South Africans, whose scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse went down with cramp in front of Jack Crowley before one of Munster’s kicks in the shootout, later winking to his team-mates as he lay on the ground.
Hendrikse doesn’t feature for the Sharks for this Saturday’s rematch in Durban, while Crowley will also sit out the Round 13 game this week, but the Ireland international will be available for selection for next week’s trip to Pretoria to face the Bulls.
Last year’s quarter-final took place before McMillan arrived at the province as head coach in the summer, and while he expects the "shenanigans" from King’s Park might be privately motivating some players, he doesn’t expect it to have a big say on Saturday’s game.
"No, not a lot. It's obviously in the back of players' minds that there were a few shenanigans that sort of happened at the back end of the game," he said, speaking from his team’s base in Durban.
"That's 12 months ago now and different teams and our focus needs to go where it needs to be and putting a performance that will hopefully get us the job done."
The province’s trip to South Africa endured a false start on Monday when their flight was cancelled, but after eventually departing on Tuesday the squad arrived at their Durban base yesterday.
And despite what McMillan described as a "hiccup" in their plans, the late arrival hasn’t had a major impact on their preparation.
"Obviously a bit of a disruption, and that's not something that is fairly common practice, first cancelled international flight I think I've been a part of.
"So, a slightly new experience, but we did fly out of Shannon, so when the flight was cancelled, it was a 20-minute drive back to Limerick and in your own bed for the night and then just repeated the process the next day.
"So, it didn't have a huge effect on what we had planned in terms of trainings.
"I thought the guys showed a lot of maturity around just getting on with it and like I said, we're here now in this happy group and had a good training day."
With Crowley, Craig Casey and Jeremy Loughman joining the squad later this week, McMillan has only selected one specialist out-half in his matchday squad to face the Sharks, with JJ Hanrahan (above) captaining the side at 10, and Mike Haley and Ethan Coughlan on standby as cover.
Of the Irish Six Nations contingent, Tom Farrell and Michael Milne both start, with Edwin Edogbo on the bench, while Brian Gleeson, who trained with Ireland last week, is also among the replacements.
And McMillan says it’s a huge boost to get some of his internationals back for the first leg of this South African trip.
"They always come back with good energy," the New Zealander added.
"It was tough on a couple, as you would expect, that they were part of the celebrations after the Triple Crown victory on the weekend, but the communication between Munster and those individuals in the Irish management has been very clear.
"We had an expectation that a good handful of those players were going to front for us on Monday and fly out and may need to play this week.
"They've bounced into the week. There's been no sign of fatigue or the fact that they feel like they're missing out on a week break."
Heading into the final third of the URC regular season, Munster’s campaign still has the potential to go either way – six points off the top of the table and nine ahead of Connacht in ninth.
King’s Park is the only South African venue Munster are yet to win at, but they have drawn twice across the last four seasons.
The Sharks have struggled this season, sitting 12th in the table, but McMillan (below) says they’re a different animal on home soil.
"What we know is we're going to come up against a desperate side, just as we are.
"We're getting to, I guess, the pointy end of the season where every point matters and we want to walk away with the points just as much as they do.
"There's no easy task, they have won five out of the last six games at home, formidable there, and welcome back some experienced internationals.
"We obviously have to deal with the conditions, which I have to say are significantly different to what we're getting in Ireland at the moment.
"So, look, there's lots of challenges, but that's what the nature of this competition throws at you. You've got to deal with travel, you've got to deal with different styles of play, different strengths in different teams and obviously the conditions.
"We're well aware of what we're going to be walking into."
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