Sharks: Nothing left but pride

 

The Sharks were humiliated by the Highlanders on their first game of their Australasian tour, with even the most faithful of supporters conceding that the season is effectively over.

 

It seems that Sharks boss Gary Gold is in agreement, stating that they are now only playing for pride and  to try and win back some disgruntled fans.

 

"The issue for us is that this is a matter of pride, of massive pride," Gold said.

 

"We’ve let a lot of people down, we’ve let a lot of supporters down – the expectations were high for this team. 

 

"I’m not about to provide any excuses for what happened in our performance, it was sub-standard and whatever the reasons are, we’ll investigate that.

 

"I take responsibility for it, I’ve said that before, but the bottom line is that we have to fix it.

 

"The business we’re in provides us with lots of opportunities to fix it. 

 

"If we don’t fix it this weekend, we’re going to be on the end of another hiding and none of us wants that. 

 

"We understand what this weekend is going to bring, there’s a big personal element involved, I’m a good friend of Plum [Hurricanes assistant coach – and former Sharks coach – John Plumtree] but it doesn’t help that he knows the intricacies of nearly all of our players."

 

It will be an interesting reunion for Plumtree and the Sharks with the Kiwi coach being dumped by CEO John Smit when he took over the reins in Durban.

 

Gold was pressed further about what he though he could salvage from the remainder of the season, and again he went back to the issue of pride.

 

"It’s about gaining pride," Gold reiterated.

 

"Letting the supporters realise that we are hurting in this matter – for us, this is far from what we expect.

 

"We have three games to go and nowhere to hide – no-one wants to hide – and it’s about showing some incredible courage. 

 

"We want to show, as players, and to the supporters, that we have a lot of fight still in us.

 

"From my point of view, this is a group that has to show that we want to fight for our pride and to show everyone what it means to us to be involved in The Sharks."