DURBAN – It was job done for the Sharks at Jonsson Kings Park on Sunday when they harvested the five Currie Cup log points they desperately wanted against the Cheetahs but they will be dismayed that their old problems of discipline and a wobbly set-piece have resurfaced.
The Sharks scored six tries in their 38-31 win, but in the end were hanging on for dear life, with only 13 players on the field after two forwards were yellow carded in the final ten minutes for deliberate infringements.
Coach Sean Everitt understandably had mixed emotions after a victory that would have come much easier had his players shown better discipline.
“There are two work-ons before we go up to play the Lions in Joburg,” he said. “One is the set-piece, and the other is the penalties we give away. But those are individual errors, not system errors, so we will be addressing that.
“We had been really good in this area up until the Bulls game (two weeks ago); we were conceding the lowest number of penalties in the competition and now we are on the highest,” Everitt lamented. “We have to rectify it so we can play the free-flowing game that we want. We don’t want to defend for most of the game because of discipline issues.”
The hard-fought win over the plucky Cheetahs, who had flank Jacques Potgieter red-carded just after half time for a dangerous tackle on Dylan Richardson, keeps the Sharks in touch with the table-topping Bulls.
“We were very disappointed not to be able to play the Pumas on Wednesday, we had a team ready to travel to Nelspruit but we couldn’t go because of Covid protocols, but we stayed positive and focused on our goal of finishing top of the Currie Cup log so, yes, we are very happy to get five points.”
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Richardson delivered a Man of the Match performance and Everitt reckons it is only a question of time before the flank is a Springbok.
“Dylan is blessed with a huge engine, he just keeps going and he makes a big impact both with the ball and in defence, while his work rate is to be admired. He is a young man who knows where he wants to be and I don’t think it will be long before he gets international recognition.”
Scorers
Sharks: 38 – Tries: Thaakir Abrahams (2), Kerron van Vuuren (2), Henco Venter, Cameron Wright. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (3); Lionel Cronje.
Cheetahs: 31 – Tries: Evardi Boshoff, Craig Barry, Cameron Dawson, Robert Ebersohn. Conversions: Brandon Thomson. Penalties: Thomson (3).
