Cheetahs remaining hopeful for play-offs
ON a weekend where the Super Rugby gods didn’t exactly smile on South African sides, the Cheetahs have remained focused on their play-off dreams.
Losses for the Cheetahs, Sharks and Stormers presented a bleak picture, while the Kings, South Africa’s “saviours”, prevented a totally blank weekend.
But at least the Bulls, who had a bye, remain the South African flag-bearers at the top end of the log. Sadly, it seems bye-bye for the Sharks and the Stormers, while the Bulls and the Cheetahs remain in the top six.
However, while the Cheetahs received a wake-up call following their unexpected 39-34 loss to the Hurricanes in Bloemfontein, captain Adriaan Strauss said they are very much in charge of their own destiny.
“The mistakes we made in the game are not big issues and ones which can be fixed,” said Strauss.
And while the Cheetahs remained in sixth overall and second on the South African log behind the Bulls, their next assignment is against the Reds, who ran rings around the Sharks at the weekend in a 32-17 win in Brisbane.
“It obviously doesn’t get any easier in this competition and we simply need to regroup and make the necessary step-up against the Reds this weekend,” the Cheetahs captain said.
Alarmingly though for the Cheetahs was how the mistakes, the norm for the side over the past few years, have returned – falling off tackles, turning possession over and not converting the opportunities which came their way.
“I think what the Hurricanes managed well was to kick behind us and while our bye last week wasn’t the reason for our performance, we did make some bad decisions,” said Strauss. PERHAPS it’s that ruthless streak so many Australasians seem to be ingrained with, but Sharks coach John Plumtree seldom is less than frank when discussing most affairs.
In light of his side’s 32-17 loss to the Reds in Brisbane on the weekend, he made another eye-catching but eminently realistic assertion – the Durbanites’ quest for a Super Rugby play-off spot is unattainable as they’ve now embarked on a sequence of five straight losses.
“I think we’re dead now,” he admitted to “It’s just been a terrible season for us.”
For the second time in three rounds, the Sharks were made to rue a capricious first half where the deficit was simply too big to overhaul.
In their meeting with the Chiefs, they fell 24-0 behind within 20 minutes and allowed the Reds to run in four tries during the first stanza, eventually trailing 29-3.
More disconcertingly, the Sharks showcased a sheer disdain for valuing possession.
“You can’t give a side like the Reds that type of possession from uns t ructured defence ,” noted Plumtree.
“They were just deadly from turnover ball. I thought the more of that they got, the more confident they got, and we couldn’t help ourselves, we just kept on giving it to them. So it was a terrible performance in that first half.”
In keeping with the pattern of their tour, the Sharks again launched a gritty comeback but this time the profit wasn’t particularly sizeable.
“When we brought some pressure and we made them do some work in defence we started clawing our way back into the game,” said Plumtree. “That was pleasing, but it was obviously too much of a deficit at halftime to mount any real challenge in the end.”