'Individual inaccuracies': Sharks boss picks up pieces after Ulster defeat
REACTION: Sharks Director of Rugby Neil Powell admitted his team were not clinical enough in their rescheduled United Rugby Championship Round Six against Ulster in Durban.
Ulster, who were captained by Springbok veteran Duane Vermeulen, left Kings Park with a valuable 31-24 bonus-point win on Saturday.
The first half was a tight contest as both teams found their rhythm and did their best to strike whenever the opportunity arose, and this saw each side score two tries apiece, although a penalty goal and extra conversion saw Ulster take an encouraging 17-12 half-time lead.
The second half was a tight tussle with both sides throwing everything at one another to secure their bonus points, but Ulster’s superior goal-kicking saw them snatch the victory despite both sides scoring four tries in the match.
“It’s a disappointing outcome,” said Powell.
“We were really hoping to at least get four points out of this game.
“I think at times we let ourselves down with individual inaccuracies. We score points, receive a restart and then we can’t relieve the pressure and we put ourselves under more pressure.
“I think the first 15 minutes was the way we wanted to play Ulster and then unfortunately after that water break it felt like we lost a bit of momentum.
“We gave them too many opportunities to maul inside or just outside our 22 and I think it’s due to us not being clinal enough in the way we wanted to exit.”
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#ICYMI: Irish Province Ulster moved to within striking distance of the defending champion Stormers in second place on the United Rugby Championship standings. 👇#URC #Sharks #Ulster #SHAvULS https://t.co/G8M0WeRu37
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Ulster’s maul
Two maul tries laid the foundations for Ulster’s win – with replacement hooker Tom Stewart claiming both.
Powell admitted it’s an area of the game where his team fell horribly short.
“When you concede maul tries you will obviously feel exposed. It’s something we need to get right there,” the Sharks boss explained.
“It is something we need to get right every single game.
“The backs really tried hard and the forwards as well. It never felt like we were totally out of it.
“It always felt like we were in the game but after scoring we were under pressure again because of our own mistakes and our inaccuracies.”
One of the positives for the Sharks is that they managed to get two points out of the game for scoring four tries and for losing by a seven-point margin.
They are now just a point behind the Bulls in the standings and they are five points ahead of eighth-placed Connacht.
“It’s probably a comfort. We obviously wanted four points or more out of this game and we had the opportunities to get more points out of this game,” said Powell.
“It [two points] keeps us in the race.
“I think it just a disappointing result but I think there is some comfort that we got the two points.”
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