The Sharks arrived in Brisbane, Australia on Monday morning having flown out of Durban at midday on Sunday ahead of their Super Rugby Qualifying match against the Reds.Thanks to their five-pointer over the Cheetahs on Saturday and a number of very interesting final weekend results that threw the log into complete disarray, the Sharks ended the pool stages of the tournament in sixth place which sees them line up against the Reds in one Qualifier and the Bulls travelling to Christchurch to take on the Crusaders in the other.
In a game of two halves, the Sharks came from behind at half time to score an incredible four second half tries - and deny the Cheetahs any points - to register a fairly comprehensive victory at Mr Price Kings Park.
Naka Drotske, the Cheetahs coach, might have had similar feelings to his counterpart John Plumtree with regards to their teams’ erratic showing in that match, with the Cheetahs holding the upper hand in the first half, only for the Sharks to finish the stronger of the two.
It’s not how you start but finish is the important catchphrase in this context, although failing to capitalise on a good start is something that has plagued the Cheetahs all year.
“The way this game turned out has been the story of our season,” said Naka Drotske. “You have to play for 80 minutes and we have a mental block, we need our youngsters to play for 80 to make the step up.”
His assessment of the Sharks was a team with a strong squad, where players coming off the bench were able to add great value to their team’s cause.
“Obviously it’s quite a luxury to be able to put a few Springboks on in the second half, they made the step up and played well,” he said.
“Willem Alberts and Bismarck du Plessis gave them a lot of momentum, but in saying that and without taking anything away from the Sharks, we made some silly mistakes in the second half. I thought our aerial play with contestable kicks was poor. We have a lot of stuff to work on before the Currie Cup.”
Plumtree was obviously relieved at the result, and added that a few strong words were said at half time that perhaps didn’t bear repeating.
“The words spoken at the break were a bit colourful, I explained that we had to get the set piece right, dominate the advantage line and our game would get going.
“We were kicking ball away but not winning ball back in the air, so they had a field day against us.
“Our discipline failed us because we were under pressure and then they kicked points. It was a case of turning that around after half time.”
Trailing 15-6 after the first half obviously wasn’t in the planning, but a resolute and determined second half performance gave them the win.
“It was a tough week for us,” said Plumtree, “Bismarck du Plessis’ knee flared up, we had to wrap him in cotton wool, and with Beast out, our front row was affected which was a big strength of ours last week.
“Beast had bad gastro and was quite sick and we couldn’t get him right but getting Willem Alberts back was important for us.
“We’ve lost Pat Lambie but hopefully we’ll get Steven Sykes back and we’ll be able to field close to our full-strength starting line-up against the Reds.”
Source: SharksRugby
