Du Preez gives blunt assessment of Sharks' performance
SUPER RUGBY REACTION: Once again, consistency will probably be the Sharks’ greatest challenge in Super Rugby.
After impressing in wins over the Sunwolves and Blues, the Sharks produced an abysmal performance against the Stormers in Round Three going down 11-16.
The Sharks were overwhelming favourites heading into the encounter, but it seemed the old Jekyll and Hyde mentality has crept into the Sharks’ camp once again.
The home side’s discipline was poor, and they failed to hang onto the ball long enough to put the Stormers under any real pressure at Kings Park.
Sharks head coach Robert du Preez was blunt in his assessment of his team’s performance on Saturday.
“I think our discipline was not good enough. We couldn’t get any momentum in the first half, we couldn’t exit properly so you are always going to be under the pump,” said Du Preez.
He added: “We showed glimpses when we had the ball, but we just couldn’t retain that possession and build the phases. We got a couple of things to work on.”
For the third week in a row, Du Preez named an unchanged team and a question was raised after the match on whether the Sharks were too predictable.
“No, I don’t think so,” said Du Preez.
“The Stormers are a quality side, they got quality individual players, so we didn’t expect that it was going to be easy.
“I don’t think that [team changes] would have made a difference, but we will probably make some changes going forward as part of our rotation policy.”
The Sharks will face the Bulls in Pretoria in Round Three.
By Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com
Photo: Wayne Seagreen
