Sharks’ set scrums can be fixed, says Everitt

SHARKS coach Sean Everitt has explained the mystery disappearance of Thomas “The Tank” du Toit from the Sharks’ front row minutes before kick-off against the Hurricanes in Wellington last week.

The Tank ran out of steam shortly before the warm-up after having fought a virus during the week, Everitt said from Melbourne where his team is preparing to play the Rebels on Saturday.

“Thomas got sick a few days before the game but felt better on Saturday morning only to come down with a fever again when we arrived at the venue, so we had to withdraw him,” Everitt said.

That prompted a late front-row reshuffle that had loosehead Ox Nche, who was also supposed to start, moving to the bench to provide tighthead cover for John-Hubert

Meyer.

Nche can cover both positions and with him dropping to the bench, the Sharks had a new front row in Meyer, Juan Schoeman, and hooker Kerron van Vuuren,

The late changes would have had something to do with the Sharks’ poor scrumming, although Everitt didn’t want to look for an excuse.

“The set scrums can be fixed,” he said. “Having a new front row just before kick-off is never easy because we all know that scrumming is about synergy … I am not saying that the guys don’t all scrum together in training but Ox had to go to the bench because he was the tighthead cover and if he was going to come on, we wanted him to have fresh legs.

“We didn’t want to move him to tighthead when he was tired. And Ox should be commended for his efforts in the second half. He scrummed well and his work around the park was very good.”