Sharks young guns learning vital lessons
THE Sharks will be thrilled to hit the green grass of home today after their month-long European sojourn, but they will also be ruing their 23-17 loss to Cardiff in the tour finale which was certainly “one that got away”.
The Sharks failed to hit the ground running in the match and were 17-0 down in no time. They then fought back admirably in the second half to get themselves into a position to win the game, but failed to seal the deal.
But for some wayward goal-kicking, a few handling errors and some slipped tackles, they would have banked far more than a solitary losing bonus point.
Coach Sean Everitt knows how close they came to finishing the tour with a flourish and he did not mask his disappointment.
“We are very disappointed with the result,” Everitt said.
“The guys put in a lot of effort, particularly in the second half, but we weren’t clinical enough to get over the line.
“There were a couple of tries there for the taking and had we taken those opportunities, it would have been different.
“I have to commend the guys for getting back into the game after we had been under the pump in the first half.
“We did extremely well to fight back only for us to spill opportunities close to the try line.”
Everitt said that his young squad has learned the hard way that you have to be clinical at the highest level.
And they will also know that they have to make their first-time tackles after both of Cardiff’s tries came from defensive mistakes.
And in contrast, Cardiff were very good on defence, with a tackle completion rate of 96% compared to 88% for the Sharks.
Overall, though, Everitt would be pleased at how his team responded after a first-round horror show against Munster.
In their next game, they had a good second half against Glasgow, and then were excellent in beating the Ospreys.
That is why it will hurt that they could not finish off with a win in Cardiff.
The Sharks will be pleased at the significant improvement in their setpieces over the course of the tour, while the form of Boeta Chamberlain at flyhalf has eased concerns over the position.
And a number of youngsters have been blooded because the Sharks were without 12 senior players who were on international duty
“One has to look at the tour as a whole,” Everitt said.
“I believe that all the South African franchises have made a remarkable improvement. It is really tough playing away from home and you have to learn fast,” the Sharks coach added.
“But we’ve grown a lot as a group. A lot of youngsters had opportunities to play in Europe and that will stand us in good stead going forward.
“We are looking forward to coming home and hopefully playing in front of our fans come November 27 (against the Scarlets).”