Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Sharks in unchartered waters as Gold tries to right the ship
GARY GOLD is loath to lower the expectations on his Sharks side, even as they struggle to get their Currie Cup campaign going.
The Durbanites are in Port Elizabeth this evening (kick-off 5.05pm) to take on a EP Kings side that pushed them all the way when they met a fortnight ago at Kings Park.
“I would hate to say we are not going to be competitive. I want us to be competitive in every game. I just don’t want us to make predictions about us winning things,” Gold said.
The Sharks are in unusual territory for a big union. They are in a transition phase that will probably only start bearing fruit the end of the current Currie Cup campaign. Yet Gold remains hopeful that his young side will turn a corner of sorts tonight, before facing some serious mountains over the next few weeks.
Once the Sharks have dealt with the Kings, and what will be a rowdy audience at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, they have Western Province and the Blue Bulls on their radar. As they seek a pattern, some of their traditional rivals are flexing their muscles and looking in good touch.
The Golden Lions are still the favourites, but the Bulls are emerging as the flavour of the month. But those will be problems down the road. Having been run so close on home turf, Gold wouldn’t dare overlook what will confront them today.
“The Kings are a very good side, contrary to what is on paper,” Gold said. “They are also very well coached, and Luke Watson has led them very well. He is a very good player, and I think that it will be a very hard game there.”
That much is true. While there are huge concerns about what the Kings are doing off the field – with the 2016 Super Rugby season in mind – they are becoming a hard nut to crack in the Currie Cup.
“They are a good side. They almost beat a full-metal-jacket Western Province side in the warm-ups, so we have to respect them,” Gold said.
Along with that respect, the Sharks coach will know that his side has to eradicate errors that are killing what momen- tum the pack have created. Gold admits that those errors are hurting them, but he also says a team only makes errors when they are being ambitious.
“I would never have a go at a guy for trying something and then making a mistake. What I will not tolerate is when we don’t see the effort,” he said. “I think we have seen that over the last few weeks, which is why I am happy about the performance against the Lions, but not the result.”
Conversely, Gold was happy with the result against the Kings – five points – but not a performance that was riddled with inconsistency.
Tonight, against a Kings side with little to lose, Gold will be hoping that his charges finally give him reason to be chuffed. LINE-UPS EP Kings: Scott van Breda, Siyanda Grey, Ronnie Cooke, JP du Plessis, Luther Obi, Karlo Aspeling, Enrico Acker, Tim Agaba, Thembelani Bholi, Luke Watson (capt), Cornell Hess, Steven Sykes, Tom Botha, Martin Ferreira, Lizo Gqoboka Replacements: Schalk Ferreira, Edgar Marutlulle, Simon Kerrod, Stefan Willemse, Paul Schoeman, Dwayne Kelly, Hansie Graaff. Sharks: Joe Pietersen, Odwa Ndungane, Paul Jordaan, André Esterhuizen, S’bura Sithole, Lionel Cronjé, Michael Claassens, Philip van der Walt, Daniel du Preez, Francois Kleinhans, Marco Wentzel (capt), Etienne Oosthuizen, Gerhard Engelbrecht, Monde Hadebe, Dale Chadwick Replacements: Kyle Cooper, Thomas du Toit, JC Astle, Jean-Luc du Preez, Stefan Ungerer, Wandile Mjekevu, Garth April.