Calvin Nash knows Munster can't afford to give the Sharks a second bite of the cherry when the teams meet in Saturday’s BKT URC quarter-final.
Munster are back on South African soil for the second time this season and know improvement from October's 41-24 defeat is a must.
The game, in which Munster conceded twice in the first five minutes and four first-half tries, led to the departure of head coach Graham Rowntree.
The visitors to Kings Park that day had more possession and territory, and conceded fewer penalties but missed a hefty tally of 26 tackles.
"They put us under a lot of pressure in the first half, in the first few minutes," Ireland wing Nash told RTÉ Sport on a remote call from the team’s hotel on Wednesday afternoon.
"They really dominated us in the contact area early and put us under savage pressure.
"It was tough trying to claw back out of that hole that we dug ourselves, hopefully start the game better and take the game to them, I suppose, and come away with a better result."
Munster famously won the URC two season ago, playing all of their knockout games on the road, including a thrilling final against Stormers in Cape Town.
A lot has changed since but Nash, who scored a try in that game, says they haven’t used that victory in the DHL Stadium as motivation for their task on Saturday (5.30pm, live on RTÉ Radio 1) against the team who finished third in the standings.
"A few of us do have a few reference points but we are taking the game as it is," said the 27-year-old, who has 10 Ireland caps.
"We are taking each game week-by-week. The last two games that we had essentially were knockout games for us and we weren’t in the best position in the URC.
"That’s how we treated them and this week will be no different."
The home side have a formidable array of Springbok forwards to call upon for the clash, none more so than Eben Etzebeth, who returned from a five-month lay-off to play his first full game in the 12-3 win over Scarlets in round 18.
Concerns were raised about the double World Cup-winner's career after a concussion suffered against Exeter in December.
"It was obviously frustrating with the concussion," the 33-year-old lock (above) said.
"There’s not really a timeline on it, it’s all about your symptoms and how you respond to certain treatments.
"So I’d think, 'maybe I’ll be back in a week’s time’ and then it’s a bit longer,"
"And then I picked up a hamstring [injury] and had to sit out a bit more.
"It was good to get that first 80 minutes against Scarlets under the belt.
"It’s good when you play 20 here or 60 there, but when you finally get a full game, you really feel like you’re back in the mix."
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