Sharks smarting after first Currie Cup loss
Despite their loss to Western Province, the Cell C Sharks are still top of the Currie Cup log after five rounds of action.
The Sharks travelled to Cape Town last weekend and suffered their first defeat under coach Rob du Preez as Province claimed a 34-27 victory.
In a cold dash of irony, Coach Du Preez and one of his twin sons Jean-Luc lost out to their brother Robert Junior, who starred for the hosts on the night. Jean-Luc's brother Daniel is still a few weeks away from full fitness.
Playing away from home, the pressure was firmly on the Sharks and they were far from the dominant force in the match. Du Preez was quick to point out that the Sharks hardly deserved the lead at half time.
“To be honest with you, we were never in the game in the first half. We got lucky to get back and be ahead at half time. I think that’s the story of the evening,” Du Preez said.
Although the Sharks were at their best in the first stanza, the second half was a tightly fought affair. Province proved the more clinical outfit and ground out a well-deserved win.
After five rounds of action, it is clear to see that Du Preez’ ball-in-hand mind-set has clearly taken hold. With the likes of Inny Radebe and Curwin Bosch as young catalysts, the Sharks have been trying to iron out their expansive game-plan and their coach wants them to persevere.
"We’re not going to move away from the way we want to play, we want to play with ball in hand and I think we had opportunities. We just couldn’t look after the ball. We got outplayed, we were ‘out-passioned’.”
“I think our discipline wasn’t great and that is always going to stop momentum,” he added.
On the flip-side, Du Preez admitted that his side had played some good rugby at times but their tendency to lose focus and make errors cost them the match.
“We created opportunities and there were some good passages of play. You have to respect and look after the ball. It’s been a bit of a trend with us, that we make some unforced errors. Tonight we made more and that is going to happen when you play against a team that brings everything. I’m going to have to look at the game properly and take out some positives.
“If you want to play an expansive, 15-man, ball in hand game you have work hard on your core skills which we’ve been doing. We’re not going to go away from that; we’ll stick to it because that is the way I believe we should be playing.”
With a single log point separating the Sharks and the second placed Cheetahs, their clash this weekend in Durban promises to be one of the biggest matches of the tournament so far. The Cheetahs have often got the better of the Sharks at Kings Park, but the hosts will be smarting after their Newlands defeat.
The Sharks will be hungry to avenge their loss and get back to winning ways. Victory will also keep their top-of-the-log berth safe – for now.
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