A game of highs and lows for Sharks
At the end of Saturday’s Rainbow Cup South Africa match between the Sharks and Lions at Jonsson Kings Park, the home team were unbeaten after two rounds of the competition and the visitors winless, yet the 34-26 margin between the sides was not massive.
It was why Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said he was “hurt” by the loss while his opposite number, Sean Everitt, was not sure whether to laugh or cry.
The last time these two teams had met in Durban, a few months back in the Currie Cup, the scenario was very similar — the Sharks rattled up an imposing early lead, with the signs there of a big hiding looming for the Lions, only for the Sharks to lose their way and the Lions to storm back in the second half.
In both games, you felt the Sharks were significantly the better team only to be hanging on for long periods of the second half ... And this is because the Lions are a team that never goes away, and in both matches, the Sharks were too untidy to put away the opposition.
“It was game of highs and lows for us — at times the guys were really good and we played some entertaining rugby — and that is what we want to do — but it was disappointing that we gave away a lot of penalties,” Everitt said.
The Sharks gave away 15 penalties the week before against the Stormers, and this time it was 18 and three yellow cards.
“We are not at all happy about that, and it put us under pressure and we could not gain momentum on the scoreboard, so discipline is a continuous work on for us and it is something we have to sort out before we go to Pretoria,” Everitt said.
Whether or not it was the Sharks’ slackness that let the Lions into the game after they had led 24-5 after half an hour their coach, Van Rooyen, felt they had enough ammunition to win it.
“We were good enough to win the game and we had enough opportunities to do so, and I think that is why it hurts so much,” Van Rooyen said after his team had scored four tries, the same number as the Sharks. “The guys really got stuck in for 80 minutes and I really felt we improved in the second half.
“We looked desperate and our execution improved and that adds to the frustration.”
For the Sharks, it goes without saying that they have to sort out their discipline this week if they hope to beat the Bulls at Loftus this Saturday in the final game of the first half of this short, six-week competition.
The Lions this week host the Stormers, with both teams searching for their first win, and if is to be the Lions they know they have to start much better than they have in their two losses.
“We started off against the Sharks looking quite flat,” Van Rooyen said. ‘But once we got hold of the ball and started playing our game, we looked and felt a lot better.”