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Christo Buchner
Johannesburg – The Sharks have done a lot of soul-searching over the past few days and are determined to turn around their poor start to this year’s Super 14.
This was the assurance by Springbok lock Johann Muller, who admitted that the team had thus far disappointed themselves and their supporters.
“This is not what Sharks rugby stands for. We did some soul-searching and were hard on ourselves. We can probably find a hundred excuses for our defeat to the Crusaders, but we won’t do that. We were ultimately not good enough and want to put things right against the Waratahs,” he told the Sharks website.
He concedes the Waratahs are a very good team and a team that they have struggled against in the past.
“But we’re not focusing on our opponents, only on ourselves and what we have to do to start winning. We know we have not been good enough and that we have to improve significantly,” said Muller.
Sharks coach John Plumtree believes their scrumming needs a lot of work.
“We have scrummed well at times and poor at others. When we attack with the forwards we must also do it more in the middle of the field and not just play the ball wide,” he said.
“We have to use the criticism that we are getting at home positively. We have to fight back. There is nothing else we can do.
“It’s difficult when you’re not playing with confidence. As a coaching team we have to get a recipe to combat that.
“We’re really trying hard and we have to find the terrier in us and get very physical. It’s a long and challenging road and we have to find a way of getting through it,” said Plumtree.
Johannesburg – The Sharks have done a lot of soul-searching over the past few days and are determined to turn around their poor start to this year’s Super 14.
This was the assurance by Springbok lock Johann Muller, who admitted that the team had thus far disappointed themselves and their supporters.
“This is not what Sharks rugby stands for. We did some soul-searching and were hard on ourselves. We can probably find a hundred excuses for our defeat to the Crusaders, but we won’t do that. We were ultimately not good enough and want to put things right against the Waratahs,” he told the Sharks website.
He concedes the Waratahs are a very good team and a team that they have struggled against in the past.
“But we’re not focusing on our opponents, only on ourselves and what we have to do to start winning. We know we have not been good enough and that we have to improve significantly,” said Muller.
Sharks coach John Plumtree believes their scrumming needs a lot of work.
“We have scrummed well at times and poor at others. When we attack with the forwards we must also do it more in the middle of the field and not just play the ball wide,” he said.
“We have to use the criticism that we are getting at home positively. We have to fight back. There is nothing else we can do.
“It’s difficult when you’re not playing with confidence. As a coaching team we have to get a recipe to combat that.
“We’re really trying hard and we have to find the terrier in us and get very physical. It’s a long and challenging road and we have to find a way of getting through it,” said Plumtree.
