Sharks count cost of lock’s yellow card

THE Sharks were left seething following their dramatic 34-29 Super Rugby defeat at the hands of the Lions on Saturday.

They fumed over what they perceived were inconsistencies in the way incidents of foul play had been officiated.

They had a try disallowed when after many replays the TMO ruled that lock Etienne Oosthuizen had committed an act of foul play‚ while the same player was guilty of a similar offence just before half-time with the Lions on the attack.

Oosthuizen received a yellow card and the Lions got themselves back in the game and then grabbed the lead by scoring two converted tries either side of the break.

“The yellow card cost us 14 points. That tells the story‚” the Sharks’ coach Robert du Preez said.

He was unhappy that the TMO Johan Greeff did not apply the law equally throughout the 80 minutes.

He was loathe to blame the temporary loss of Oosthuizen for his team’s defeat.

“We had chances right through until the end.

“I don’t think it was the turning point but it definitely contributed to the result at the end of the day.”

His team brought a robust intensity to Ellis Park which served to knock the Lions out of their stride.

The collisions were brutal and big reputations were dented.

Du Preez gave his team’s intensity the thumbs up.

“It was a tough game‚” later adding, “it’s a physical pack”.

What undoubtedly helped put the squeeze on the Lions was the unerring boot of Curwin Bosch who contributed 19 points.

He is now the competition’s top points scorer with 73.

The Sharks failed to knock the Africa Group 2 front-runners off their perch and now have to reset their sights on another team vying for conference honours‚ the redoubtable Jaguares.

“It is a tough group we’re in‚” Du Preez nodded.

“We have to go for it this weekend and then we have a break after that.

“We have eight games left‚ so there is still a lot of rugby to be played.”