Sharks brace for Canberra caning
The Sharks have not been the best of travellers to Canberra where they play the Brumbies on Saturday.
After their 28-26 loss to the Reds in their opening Super Rugby clash in Brisbane‚ Sharks coach Robert du Preez is not far off the mark when he says it will not get any easier.
The Brumbies have better structure than any of their Australian rivals and were full value for their 17-13 bonus point loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch.
It is not every day that teams go to the South Island city and claim points and the same applies to the Australian capital‚ a perennial slaughterhouse for weary South African travellers.
“It’s not going to be any easier and I certainly think the Brumbies should have beaten the Crusaders,” Du Preez said.
“They’re a very good team and I think they’re better organised than the Reds.
“They’re an all-round team and they’re a well-coached side with Stephen Larkham there. It’s going to be a tough game at a tough stadium.
“Chances are there could be one or two changes because of Etienne Oosthuizen’s suspension. He was looking forward to playing against his old team.
“He’s a big loss for us but we’ve got a very good replacement in Stephan Lewies.
“I’ve always said the squad is very important and the guys that come into the starting line-up must use their opportunity.”
Du Preez wants his charges to get over the mistakes that allowed the Reds to fight back and score four tries at the Suncorp Stadium.
The Sharks prided themselves on their defence last season and managed to go through their round-robin stage without conceding more than three tries against the accomplished New Zealand teams.
That explains why it came as a shock when the inferior Reds were able to breach the Sharks as easily as they did.
“I don’t think we played well at all in the last 20 minutes and we didn’t have a lot of possession. But we could have still pulled the game out of the fire in the last couple of minutes.
“I’m not sure if that’s the consolation but we were disappointed with the result.
“We couldn’t get going‚” Du Preez said.
“Eleven penalties in a Super Rugby game is far too high and that can’t happen but we couldn’t put phases together when we had the ball,” the coach said.