Du Preez demands discipline from Sharks

The Durban outfit went down narrowly to the Reds in Brisbane last week but they were far from clinical or disciplined in that encounter. The Sharks were starved of possession and gave away too many penalties, according to coach Rob du Preez, and the coach took solace in the fact that they were far from their best.

“It was the one good aspect – I don’t think we played well at all. We didn’t have a lot of possession and we still could have pulled that game out of the fire in the last couple of minutes. I don’t know if that is a consolation,” Du Preez said reflecting on the match earlier this week.

“We need our fair share of possession. Eleven penalties in a Super Rugby game is too high, that certainly counted against us and we couldn’t put phases together when we had the ball because of individual errors.

“That cost us possession, those two things. Territory goes hand in hand with possession. We couldn’t get territory and our exits weren’t great and that is something we have worked on,” he added.

Du Preez has made just one optional change to his side with Frenchman Clement Poitrenaud starting at fullback in place of Curwin Bosch. Stephan Lewies starts at lock in place of Etienne Oosthuizen who is serving a two week suspension.

The Sharks should not be disrupted by those changes and will look to gain momentum this weekend, while being far more clinical than they were in Brisbane.

“Etienne is a big loss for us; he was really keen to play against his old team. We’ve got a very good replacement in Steph Lewies. I’ve always said that the squad is very important and the guys that come into the starting lineup have to use that opportunity," the coach said.

Du Preez was also happy to have his Springbok halfbacks fit and firing this season. Both Pat Lambie and Cobus Reinach gave the Sharks good direction last week and the coach feels they will grow in confidence throughout the season.

“I was happy with both guys. With match practice they will just get better and better. It was great to see them play. Cobus played 60 minutes or so and Pat had a full game, so that’s fantastic. They will just get sharper every game,” Du Preez said.

While the Sharks will be looking to their big name players to take control against the Brumbies, it will take a collective effort to beat the hosts in Canberra. The Brumbies narrowly lost to the Crusaders last weekend and will be looking to bounce back in front of their home crowd.

“To be honest it’s not going to get any easier. I certainly think they could have won that game against the Crusaders. They’re probably better organised defensively than the Reds, they are just an all-round team. They’re a well-coached side with Larkham there and it’s going to be a tough one in a tough stadium.”

The Sharks have focused on their shortcoming against the Reds and Du Preez is demanding respect of possession and territory this weekend.

“That’s got to be a focus every week. We need to exit better; we need to get more territory on our exits. Then another big focus is to execute those three phases after our set piece launches on attack. If we execute that we will be in the mix and then we can play some rugby.”

The Sharks face the Brumbies at 10h45 South African time on Saturday morning.