Showdown for Sharks
Coach promises a better performance against the Brumbies
THE Sharks have admitted through the week, into their build-up of their second game of the season, against the Brumbies (11am today), that there were mistakes made when they tackled the Reds that need to be remedied.
And although they had the luxury of an additional day to prepare for this match, the expectation cannot be that this will be a perfect display.
It is clear that coach Robert du Preez, breaking ground himself in his first season as a Super Rugby coach, is doing everything he can with a team full of greenhorns, building towards the future.
There are a lot of positives in giving the likes of Curwin Bosch, Lukhanyo Am, Jeremy Ward and Jacques Vermeulen a shot at tackling seasoned Springboks and Wallabies at their tender ages, but their progress also needs to be handled with kid-gloves.
Through the Currie Cup, into 13-weeks of pre-season, and leading to the Reds game, the talk was of an attacking gameplan chock full of possession and excitement, but much like a schoolboy standing in front of assembly to give an oral, the Sharks froze up and sweated through the performance, forgetting everything they had prepared.
Du Preez said after the match the team was not the Sharks he had readied to do the business in Super Rugby. Hundred-cap veteran Lwazi Mvovo also alluded that a lot of the youngsters and Super Rugby debutants were probably a little overawed with the occasion and the situation they found themselves in.
Away from home, in their first match, on a tour, and fronting up to some legendary Wallabies in George Smith, Quade Cooper, Scott Higginbotham and Stephan Moore, it becomes more and more understandable why the Sharks were not firing first up.
The nerves, however, must have cleared by n ow, and nothing shakes off the rust like that first competitive game.
No doubt Du Preez also would have been fairly direct in his thoughts to the team after the match, which they had led until the 70th minute, and it would be hard for them not to have listened up.
The Brumbies will pose a bigger threat than the Reds, they are far more structured and won’t miss opportunities to take points like the Reds did, so it means the Sharks need to step up not just one level, but at least two.
They have aimed to address the concerns over inexperience by promoting French international fullback Clement Poitrenaud to the starting line-up, giving Bosch a front row seat to see how things should be done from the bench. Not that Bosch did anything wrong to deserve it – it seems to be more of a tactical move.
Stephan Lewies also comes into the starting team at lock for the suspended Etienne Oosthuizen, and Jean Droste is in line to make his debut should he come on off the bench.