Gold hails Daniel, Du Preez twins for Sharks win

For the first time this year the Sharks produced a well-rounded performance, switching seamlessly from ruthless defence to purposeful attack to run in four tries against a jaded-looking Hurricanes outfit.

As Gold rightly said after the match, picking the man of the match was an almost impossible task with so many Sharks players putting in outstanding performances.

Keegan Daniel walked away with the honours and deservedly so. The Sharks stalwart was all over the park in open play and his work at the lineouts kept the Hurricanes starved of ball. Having been away from Durban for two years, it is a wonder that Daniel has played himself back into the side and Gold would be wise to keep the 31-year-old in his starting lineup.

“He was very good. He’s a stalwart, he brings a huge amount of experience in these games, he’s just a cool clam head. As you heard earlier in the week, he adds a lot of support to Beast, Patrick and the other leaders in the team.

“I thought Keegan was outstanding but I’m happy I didn’t have to choose man of the match. I thought the Du Preez brothers were outstanding tonight, they were next level. Garth April was exceptional, Andre Esterhuizen must have made comfortably 20 tackles so it was a good team effort, everybody put their hand up and tried hard,” Gold said.

Gold was right to single out his loose trio for their spirited performance in open play. Daniel and the Du Preez’ got stuck in a ruck time and helped secure 16 turnovers, while Esterhuizen topped that stat with four of his own.

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd believes that very statistic was the difference between to two sides.

“If I were to identify an area, I thought the Du Preez boys and Keegan Daniel had particularly good games. Last week against the Lions, considering they have a pretty useful loose trio as well, we managed to get our own way in that space. But not so this week, credit to them. The Sharks had a plan which we knew but they executed particularly well and we couldn’t cope with it,” Boyd said.

While JP Pietersen kept the Sharks in the game with two tries right before and after half time, the performance of Garth April also needs mention. Since he has been picked in the starting XV, the Sharks have looked more lethal on attack.

April produced another sublime performance, bossing the game well while constantly probing the Hurricanes defence. It was a shame to see him replaced in the second half, but it was a necessary move with Pat Lambie running on for his first taste of Super Rugby action this year.

Gold admitted that replacing April was tough given his performance, but the Sharks boss was pleased to see Lambie pulling the strings with ease after three months on the side lines.

“It was (replacing April) with a real heavy heart because the predetermined plan was to give Patrick a decent enough run, 30 minutes or so and we stuck to that.”

“It is also about the maintenance of the players and having a plan because of our travel. We’ve had to be rigorous in our planning around travel. It’s important, there’s a bigger picture here and we want to have faith in 28 guys. I’m very proud to say that number goes up by a player or two every week.

“When you consider the fact that Jacques Potgieter hasn’t come back, guys like Cobus and Marcell are out for the season, you’ve got to keep the squad rotating. Luckily the standards didn’t drop when Patrick came on, I thought he was really good. For a guy who’s been out for three months, I thought he was outstanding," Gold said.

The Sharks now turn their attention to a taxing week ahead. They will travel to Argentina on Wednesday for their clash against the Jaguares next Saturday.

Twitter - @gazza_jenks @ECRSportswave 

Facebook - ECRSportswave