These Sharks have 'attitude'
With the Sharks having relied mainly on seasoned Springboks in recent years – without achieving much success – Gold, who arrived in Durban at the beginning of this year, has turned to a group of talented young players in the hope that the Sharks could start filling the trophy cabinet again.
Nowhere is it more evident than in the front row.
With the Du Plessis brothers, Jannie and Bismarck, heading abroad after the World Cup, Gold has thrown a number of youngsters in at the deep end.
Junior Springboks Thomas du Toit (20), Juan Schoeman (23) and Gerhardus Engelbrecht (24) are the new breed of Sharks front row forwards.
Du Toit has long been spoken off as the future of the Bok front row, having played for the South African Schools and SA Under-20 teams in recent years.
Schoeman, who played for the SA Under-18 and SA U20 teams, and Engelbrecht have both been 'recruited' from Blue Bulls country.
"Throwing the young players into the thick of things is the only way they are going to develop," Gold said in an interview on the Sharks website.
"It's all about game-time and either sinking or swimming," he said.
"One such player is Thomas du Toit, who is now being developed as a tighthead prop, and a wonderful prospect for the future," he said of a young man that started life out as a loosehead, but have moved into the No.3 position – where South Africa is lacking depth.
Gold's said Du Toit simply must be backed.
"Thomas is a 130 kg piece of meat and he is going to be a great rugby player, but he has learning to do.
"However, I am happy to put him in the deep end and this is where he must learn because you can't say you are going to back youngsters and then chuck them out with the bath water."
Schoeman is another prospect Gold rates highly.
"Juan is a fantastic athlete of over 120 kilogrammes," the Sharks boss said.
"He is very fast, very young and his work rate is very high. He's had little top class rugby, but his pedigree is there – his brother was SA schools captain and is a loose forward at the Bulls.
"He, Thomas and Gerhard [Engelbrecht] have the attitude I am looking for and excited about."
Gold realises that with such a young squad, there may be a few hurdles along the way to overcome.
Having started their Currie Cup campaign with a loss to the Pumas, they beat the Eastern Province Kings in last week's Round Two action.
"I am brutally honest in that we are going to have a tough learning curve, but in a few months they will have played all over the country.
"I back them and they are going to come good."
