Where it all went wrong for Sharks
REACTION: Sharks head coach Sean Everitt has pinpointed what went wrong during his side’s 31-32 narrow defeat to Western Province.
Despite outscoring WP by four tries to two, the Sharks failed to secure a much-needed win.
A lot went right for the Sharks. The line-outs have been under scrutiny but were near perfect on Wednesday.
There were scrum penalties for both sides and other encouraging signs included a lowered penalty count.
In Everitt’s honest assessment, he admitted that: “When you look at how close the scoreboard was, you can manage the game accordingly.
“But I don’t think we handled the Province kicking game well in the second half and they kept us in our half of the field.
“We were dangerous in the first half because we converted most of the opportunities that we had, which is something we’ve been working on. It’s very pleasing.
“Then the line-out fell apart in the last 20 and when your maul is functioning and you’re winning the clean ball, you can always earn penalties to put yourself into the right position on the field.
“Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, so we need to have consistency off the bench.
“It is disappointing because I thought we did enough to win the game. Unfortunately, the error rate was high, but the penalty count was good.
“We conceded 10 which is a big improvement from the 16 conceded in the Rainbow Cup. But the error rate of some individuals certainly put the team under the pump.”
There was positive news as far as the predicted deluge was concerned and the game was played in cold, but dry weather which added to the spectacle. Further was the gains enjoyed from the pack at maul time where they reaped rewards for accuracy and determination.
“I was quite happy that it didn’t rain because it would have been messier and we had expected bad weather so something like mauling was part of our plan.
“The players were admirable in that department for the first 60 minutes and then due to system errors and individual mistakes, it fell apart.
“I thought when we executed the maul well, it worked.”
As far as the team is concerned, Everitt suggested they are on the right path.
“There is a tremendous amount of pride within this group. I said it when I came in as coach that I didn’t want the public to be critical about us however I don’t want the team to have a lack of energy, drive and motivation.
“This team, regardless of the result, has definitely not lacked in those departments. I’m proud of the boys and how they turn up week in and week out.”
Source: @TheSharksZA
