Sharks well placed at the halfway mark

AFTER their tense onepoint win against Western Province in Cape Town on Saturday, the Sharks officially crossed the halfway mark of the Currie Cup season.

In the six games so far, the men from Durban have racked up five wins and are well placed for a final push to the knockout stages.

It was indeed a good show of character from a Sharks side that has been looking to gel and perform well together for almost three years now.

Western Province are a tough team to beat, and despite looking like they were fighting against the win at Newlands, they managed to get over the line.

The Sharks dominated territory almost totally in the second half, yet struggled to land the killer blow, and breach the Province defence, until a late Inny Radebe try helped them make it 21-20.

“It was frustrating,” coach Robert du Preez said after the game. “We created so many opportunities and we just couldn’t convert them.

“But it was a great win as it is always tough to come here to Newlands, and it is a great win against Province.”

Du Preez said his team seemed to lack patience, an issue that has dogged them for some time as tries have been hard to come by. The coach put it down to his team feeling a little flat after having a bye, following a week with three games in it.

“It was a little bit of impatience,” Du Preez admitted. “But we just battled to get going after the bye, the guys felt a little quiet at halftime, and that had a role to play as well.

“It is easy to fix, though, winning with one point, against Province, down here, that is a showing of great character.”

Next up for the Sharks is the only team to have bested them all season, Free State. However, there will be a little reversal of fortunes as this time it will be the Cheetahs who have other interests at hand.

At the start of the Currie Cup the Sharks were still involved in Super Rugby and as such sent a B-side to the slaughter in Bloemfontein.

This week, though, the Cheetahs begin their historic foray into the Celtic Pro 14 league and will no doubt have to field a weakened team for the Kings Park clash.

The Sharks sit in second spot on the log, behind the Cheetahs who have only lost – inexplicably – to the Griquas. There is only one point separating the sides, but the Sharks will feel they can get their retribution in this return fixture.

From there, it will be a run into the knockout stages where the Sharks will hope they can stay at the summit of the table in order to take as much of an advantage as possible when the quarter-finals, and semi-finals, come about.