VIDEO: Plumtree laments Sharks' lack of killer instinct
WATCH as Sharks head coach John Plumtree gave an honest assessment of his side’s 13-25 United Rugby Championship semifinal loss to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Sharks throughout the season managed to win matches by the skin of their teeth in tight situations.
They might rue their goal-kicking woes on the night with the Hendrikse brothers missing two penalties and two conversion attempts between them.
Ironically enough, it was goal-kicking that got the Sharks into the URC semifinal where the brothers slotted all their attempts at goal during the first-ever penalty shootout in the competition.
Ultimately, the result came down to the Durbanites’ inability, at times during the match, to get the ball over the line when they were just centimetres away.
Plumtree slammed his side’s inability to convert pressure into points despite playing against a 13-man Bulls outfit at one stage.
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“I felt at times we played too deep when we had momentum and at other times too flat when we didn’t have momentum.
“We just didn’t quite have quick enough ball and enough players coming onto the ball throughout the match.
“We did for parts of the game, but we didn’t cash in when we did have enough [players onto the ball].
“When we were close to the [Bulls’] line we got held up – that’s just an absolute disaster just before half-time.
“We were just a little bit off and I’ll have to take another look at the video.
“We [also] had opportunities to counter-attack which we had plans for but didn’t quite complete it.
“It was frustrating. I’ve been here enough with the team to know that if I played that game in my mind during the week it would play out during the game.
“That’s why I felt good at half-time. I felt we were winning the territory battle and we had enough opportunities, but we just didn’t quite finish it off and just had to do that in the second half.
“When we scored [through Ethan Hooker] we got back in the game but then in the last 20 minutes, we didn’t cash in [our opportunities] at all.
“We’ve been good at finishing [off] games the last couple of weeks which probably has been a strength but we didn’t manage to do it tonight [Saturday].”
