Sharks sweating over injured Bosch, Mbonambi after bullying Bordeaux

The Sharks are holding their breath over injuries to Springboks Curwin Bosch and Bongi Mbonambi, who are doubts for their trip to London to face Harlequins in the Champions Cup next weekend.

Hooker Mbonambi had to be substituted early in the game after hurting his shoulder in contact while carrying and was replaced by Kerron van Vuuren in the Sharks' 32-3 victory over French club Union Bordeaux-Begles at Kings Park on Saturday.

Flyhalf Bosch didn't even make it onto the field and was replaced by Lionel Cronje at pivot, which opened up space on the bench for Springbok Aphelele Fassi to return after suffering an ankle injury during the SA A tour of Europe last year.

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Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell said Bosch, who was injured for the opening eight rounds of the United Rugby Championship (URC), came into the matchday squad with a hamstring issue and they didn't want to risk aggravating it.

"He (Bosch) picked up a bit of a hammy during a performance session on Thursday and we were hoping he would pull through during the captain's run on Friday.

"Unfortunately, he didn't and we didn't want to risk him. The physios are confident that he will be back next weekend but it's a case of, do we want to risk him or wait for him to recover fully before we get him back onto the field?

"So, the positive is that we'll have a bit of time before we depart for London to play Harlequins, so hopefully we can do a proper assessment of all our injuries before we get onto the plane."

Bosch had shown good form since returning from injury, playing under Powell, who seemed to have reignited the Sharks prodigy.

Mbonambi was one of the big guns that were rested last