Sharks sweating over captain Keegan

The Sharks may be without captain Keegan Daniel for another week, as he continues to struggle with a knee injury.

Daniel was a late withdrawal from the team that lost 30-32 to Griquas in a first-round match in Durban last Friday.

Sharks forwards coach Brad Macleod-Henderson admitted the loose forward remains doubtful for this week's encounter with the Golden Lions at Kings Park.

"He struggled a bit during the week and at captain's practice it never went away, so he had to pull out with a knee niggle that had been troubling him all week, but which he hoped would settle," Macleod-Henderson said of his captain.

"Unfortunately it didn't settle down enough for him to play.

"We're hoping it doesn't keep him out. Hopefully it's not a serious injury but we'll see later on Monday how he is."

In other possible injury news, the Sharks mentor confirmed that Tim Whitehead hurt his ribs, although they're hopeful that it's not too serious.

He also spoke to their problems with the set pieces in their opening loss.

"In the first half we did struggle a bit at scrum time," Macleod-Henderson said, adding: "I think it got better in the second half.

"It's certainly an area we'll be working on this week.

"Our set-pieces weren't great ,they dominated us on the pick and go game, and we probably got outmuscled a bit, so, a very disappointing day at the office."

He said it was disappointing to lose on the stroke of full-time.

It could so easily have been a bonus point victory - they did score three tries and were on the hunt for one more - but it wasn't to be, as Griquas forced themselves on the Sharks and managed to score an injury-time converted try to win the match.

"Griquas are always a very physical side and we knew that would be the case, perhaps they rocked us in the first 10 minutes when we were 0-10 down, that's an area we need to correct, to make sure we start better than we did.

"There are areas we picked up that need working on."