Can Eben and the Bok-Sharks turn around a woeful start to Plumtree's season?

The Sharks, searching for their first United Rugby Championship (URC) win of the season against the Dragons in Durban on Saturday, have called on their World Cup-winning Springboks to get the job done. 

According to head coach John Plumtree, the selections of Eben Etzebeth, Makazole Mapimpi and Jaden Hendrikse in the starting line-up (powerhouse prop Ox Nche is on the bench) was always part of the plan for this gameweek and is not an act of desperation. 

Lukhanyo Am, meanwhile, captains the side, though he did feature in last weekend's home loss to Connacht. 

The Sharks have lost all of their opening five matches of the season to be left bottom of the log, 14 points off the top eight and the playoff places. 

While Plumtree admits that the results are hurting, he is not prepared to change the path the Sharks are on, insisting they will not start "kicking the ball away" in the pursuit of short-term success. 

"But when you're working in the now, you want to get some results and be competitive. We've got a lot of work to do to make up where we at, and I guess that starts tomorrow."

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This is a process, Plumtree says, and the hope is that with his star Boks back in the mix, results will turn around sooner rather than later. 

"It's been great to have them back," he said on Friday.

"We had a meeting at 07:00 on Monday and a chat around how they're feeling physically and mentally, and we got a little bit of feedback from them about what it means being back with us after coming off such a high.

"It was really positive. They're all really keen to go and they've been great all week. They've got huge amounts of leadership amongst them, so it's been good. It's nice for the other