Gold: Le Roux a good leader
The Sharks will return from their two match tour of France with heads held high and encouraging confidence following back-to-back victories over Toulon and Toulouse over the past week.
In their second of two overseas pre-season warm-up matches they defeated a game Toulouse side 31-17 (half-time 18-10) with tries from Sibusiso Sithole, Garth April and Johan Deysel to secure a well-deserved victory.
Springbok flank Marcell Coetzee led the side in the absence of Patrick Lambie who was injured in the Toulon game and did a sterling job, according to Gold. However, there was also praise for Springbok fullback Willie Le Roux, who joined the Sharks from the Cheetahs ahead of this year's Super Rugby tournament.
"He [Coetzee] stepped up," Gold told sharksrugby.co.za.
"I also thought Willie le Roux's leadership was very good in his first game for the harks. Michael Claassens was also very good.
The team that played against Toulouse differed greatly from the that beat Toulon 29-21, which was all in the name of giving every player in the squad the opportunity to gain valuable game time against quality opposition.
"I'm proud of the fight the guys showed in this match," said Gold. "That's what we wanted to achieve on this tour and to put in such a performance, against a star-studded team like Toulouse, just shows that when we do apply ourselves, we have the ability to play as well as we did tonight.
"What we planned at the end of a disappointing Currie Cup was to give confidence to the young guys we believe have potential. We feel we did that, and certainly the players did from their side. There were some amazing performances from the young guys who we could see desperately want to wear the Sharks jersey. We're very, very proud of them and happy that the tour has been a success."
Achieving wins against two of France's powerhouse teams, Toulouse and Toulon, was great achievement for the Durban-based team. However, it did come at a great cost after the loss of Lambie to injury.
"I'm very happy with the way the tour has gone," said Gold.
"It was a bittersweet feeling after the Toulon game; it was a good result, but to lose Patrick was a really devastating blow for us. We're really happy to come away with the performance we did against Toulouse, and luckily with no major injuries."
@TheSharksZA
