Gold still figuring out his players

 

The Sharks' pre-season began with a large contingent of coaches, but no official head coach. 

 

Director of Rugby Gary Gold was still busy with his Japanese team, which reached the semifinals of the Top League.

 

A such, the team from Durban set out their preparations for Super Rugby 2015 under the auspices of Technical Director Brendan Venter.

 

Gold only returned to Durban in the last week of January, effectively missing out most of the pre-season training.

 

He was absent at the Sharks' hit out against the local club teams, but did make it to France to watch his charges defeat Toulon.

 

Gold admitted it is not an ideal situation, and that it has been a tough ask, especially due to the fact that he had never even seen some of his players in action.

 

"It has been difficult to settle in – coming in after pre-season had already started – I am not going to lie," Gold admitted.

 

"Especially coming from a different country.

 

"It is not only that I had to re-acquaint myself with the players, I also had to acquaint myself with players that I had not actually seen play as I have not been involved in Super Rugby for a number of years now by being out of the country."

 

That being said, Gold has been aided by players he has worked with in the past, notably those involved with the Springboks when he was assistant coach under Pieter de Villiers.

 

"What has made life a lot easier is having guys like Bismarck and Jannie [Du Plessis] who I got to work with at the Springboks – Odwa [Ndungane] is another one; Patrick [Lambie] as well." he added.

 

"Having that relationship with these guys has made the transition a lot easier for me."

 

Gold said he has tried to catch himself up with the players strengths and weaknesses by watching videos of their performances.

 

"I have had to look at a lot of video to get up to speed, particularly the guys who are in the larger squad," the coach said.

 

"Our priority was to have a look at the 40-odd guys who are in the Super Rugby squad.

 

"I am quiet comfortable that I am up to speed with all of their strengths and weaknesses.

 

"But it is going to take time.

 

"It was not an ideal situation but hopefully now we can start to work on the process of getting to know each other and working better together."