Sharks ‘will have to learn really quickly’
IT WAS a baptism of fire for the four South African teams in their debut in the United Rugby Championship at the weekend, especially for the Sharks and Bulls, and the sobering realisation is that there has to be some fast learning.
The Lions and Stormers were up against the two Italian teams in the competition, Zebre and Benetton, respectively, and while the latter team beat the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup final, the Italian sides are probably the weakest the South Africans will come up against.
The Lions won their game on Friday, while the Stormers looked like winning theirs until they fell apart towards the end to lose narrowly on Saturday.
The Sharks and Bulls, though, were up against the two strongest teams in the competition in the Irish giants of Munster and Leinster, and the two Currie Cup finalists came a cropper on Saturday.
Their games were almost carbon copies of each other — both Leinster and Munster had impregnable defences which easily repelled the attacks of the Bulls and Sharks and then, when they had attacking opportunities, they ruthlessly converted.
To the credit of the Bulls and Sharks they never gave up and if they can adapt quickly on their four-match tours they can come home much better for it.
“I am very proud of the fight and energy the guys showed,” said Sharks coach Sean Everitt after his team had lost 42-17. “They displayed that for the whole 80 minutes and their work-rate never diminished.
“From a rugby perspective, I am quite disappointed in the discipline — we gave away 16 penalties and each time that happened there was a massive consequence, so our guys will have to learn really quickly.”
One of the chief culprits was Thomas du Toit (who not that long ago had a stint at Munster) as he repeatedly incurred the wrath of the referee for infringements at the breakdown and was eventually yellow-carded.
In defence of the Sharks, they seemed to be doing little differently at the breakdown to what they did in the Currie Cup but northern hemisphere referees have a harsher interpretation of what is illegal, so the South Africans are going to have to adapt or die.
The Sharks started their match in impressive fashion, but they could not score and when the tide turned in terms of possession Munster scored liberally.
“The first 20 minutes was an example of how we want to play,” Everitt said. “We had territory and possession, all the stats were with us, but in the second quarter we gave away too many penalties. I thought at times we were unlucky at the breakdown, we could have been rewarded a bit more, but for the youngsters we have in the squad it was a great learning curve.
“We have three games to go and we have to learn very quickly on this trip, but this group is proud and they will grow fast.”
The Sharks play Glasgow Warriors this Saturday.