Sharks off to New Zealand for Super Rugby playoffs

Director of rugby Gary Gold was hoping for a trip up to Ellis Park to face the Lions but the Johannesburg outfit lost to the Jaguares on Saturday night, which booked the Sharks a trip to New Zealand.

The good news for the Sharks is that Willie le Roux, Paul Jordaan and Jean-Luc du Preez should be available for selection. Meanwhile Pat Lambie is now ineligible for the playoffs having only played three games in the regular season. It wouldn’t have mattered if he was finally cleared of his concussion.

The Sharks are now tasked with downing the overall log leaders in their hometown of Wellington. They have a slight mental edge having beaten the Hurricanes at Kings Park earlier this year, but they will be a far different animal in New Zealand.

Despite being unhappy with the way his side played against the Sunwolves on Friday, Gold highlighted a number of positives that they will have to capitalise on as they build towards Saturday’s game.

“There were quite a few things that were positive for me and we have to focus on those positives now, we’re into the quarterfinals. I don’t think it is doom and gloom. We didn’t play brilliantly, it was always going to be a difficult fixture for a team who had nothing to lose and a lot of pride to play for and we have to be honest with ourselves in that we should be better than that,” Gold said.

“We’ve got another opportunity this week - a chance to right the wrongs.”

While a win away from home after a taxing season will be a tall order, it’s not impossible for the Sharks to go to New Zealand and get a win.

Gold is demanding his players to take ownership of their lacklustre win over the Sunwolves and turn things around in what will be a trying week with so much travel.

“I think there needs to be accountability. We need to put our hands up on Monday. We had a strategy going into this Sunwolves game, I say this with respect, and we felt the only thing that could be our downfall was ourselves. And that was the case,” Gold said.

“When it’s in your hands and controllable, when we play good rugby and put phases together we look dangerous. We have great open field players, our pack functioned, our set piece was good so we just have to call it the way it is.”

The other quarterfinals see the Lions hosting the Crusaders. The Stormers welcome the Chiefs to Newlands while the Highlanders travel to Canberra to take on the Brumbies.

Twitter - @gazza_jenks @ECRSportswave 

Facebook - ECRSportswave