'Lucky' Sharks to sharpen up
Sharks coach John Plumtree was careful to try and keep some perspective after his team's 25-23 victory at Newlands on Saturday.
The Kiwi coach named an almost brand new team for the opening Currie Cup clash of the season and they rose to the occasion, taking their opportunities well to secure a tense victory over Western Province in difficult conditions.
However, Plumtree is very much aware that despite some promising signs his team have a long way to go if they are to develop into a consistent outfit.
"Any win here is special but we were a bit lucky tonight, we had a couple of nice bounces and we weren't very accurate but we took a few opportunities that were presented to us.
"Our defence was quite good at times so we will take it but we have got a lot of work to do," he said.
The Sharks had to come from behind in the second half, and Plumtree said that the key to their fight back had been a more accurate kicking game, with all three of their tries coming from kicks.
"We had to kick a bit more accurately, in the first half our contestables were long and we didn't really pressure them so once we got that right we got a little bit of reward out of it," he said.
The Sharks coach said that although there were a few key players missing following their taxing Super Rugby schedule, there had still been a good energy and enthusiasm for the new campaign.
"I rested a few players this week, Louis Ludik is back in Durban along with Anton Bresler and Charl McLeod so it was nice that we could get some points without some key players like that.
"There was that little bit of excitement because you get that new team feeling and there were only 24 or 25 of us at training. The squad is small and now all of a sudden some guys who haven't had a lot of rugby or have been on the bench know that they are key members of the team and then you get the young players coming through so they provide that little bit of enthusiasm.
"So that will just grow and hopefully we will unearth another star for Super Rugby by the end of the Currie Cup," he said.
Plumtree said that his side will need to sort out their set-pieces quickly after they were put under some serious pressure by Western Province in both the scrums and line-outs.
"We have got a lot of work to do there, Burds [Craig Burden] is a new hooker at this level and he will have a good opportunity for a run of games now so hopefully he will get better, but he hasn't got the biggest targets in the world," he said.
Plumtree said that although Burden had been impressive in scoring his brace of tries he is keen for the mobile hooker to tighten up his game as he gets an extended run in the starting line-up in the Currie Cup this season.
"His core skills need to tidy up a little bit, we weren't very good with our scrummaging tonight and obviously there were a few line-outs that didn't go our way as well.
"In phase play he is outstanding, like you saw if the bounce of the ball goes his way in space he is quick and that is what we saw tonight but he is not entirely happy with his game and nor am I but he will get some opportunities," he said.
Impressive outside centre Paul Jordaan left the field shortly after his stunning try with what has become a recurring hamstring complaint, and Plumtree said that the injury will be monitored very closely as he will be an extremely valuable player in the Currie Cup.
"I don't think it is serious. It is obviously a concern for us, it tightened up a little bit and I just wanted him off because he played 80 minutes last week and the plane trip so he was obviously not 100 percent.
"We will just have to work very hard on him this week because he is obviously very key for us," he said.
By Michael de Vries
