Sharks suffer insult to injury
As if suffering a first round loss to the Pumas wasn't bad enough, the Sharks were dealt more harsh news as a number of players went down injured.
The Pumas caused the first upset of the season when they beat the Sharks 33-24 in a six-try Currie Cup thriller in Nelspruit on Friday.
According to Sharks Boss Gary Gold – Lourens Adriaanse, Thomas du Toit and Jean-Luc du Preez have all suffered serious knocks during the defeat to the Pumas and could be sidelined for some time.
Gold was disappointed with the double blow suffered against the Nelspruit outfit.
"Its never easy when you don't have a good day at the office and when you pick up a couple of injuries," said Gold at the post-match press conference.
"Unfortunately Lourens Adriaanse has hurt his shoulder, Thomas du Toit has hurt his ankle, and Jean-Luc du Preez has hurt his leg.
"Its tough when it goes like that against a very good team like the Pumas. I think they [the Pumas] will be a difficult team to beat at home for anyone."
Gold insisted his team did not take the Pumas lightly, and too much possession to the Pumas in the wrong side of the park was their downfall.
"We knew how good they were and they are not Vodacom Cup champions for nothing.
"To be able to beat the Golden Lions and Western Province away to win the competition was a fantastic feat.
"They have got a lot of unity as a team and it was a good performance by them.
"I think we had a very poor first-half and we gave them too much ball in the wrong areas of the field and we paid the price.
"I suppose I'm proud of the way the guys came back in the second-half. We gave ourselves a chance to potentially win the game but obviously came up just short.
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