Sharks prepare for next hurdle

The Sharks coaches were pleased to win against the Waratahs but they were far from satisfied with a 26-21 victory that was more labored than it should have been and with a game that was still in the balance in the last minutes.

“It kept on feeling like we were about to put them away but we didn’t. I always felt we were playing the better rugby and were the stronger team, but they kept coming back at us,” said Sharks coach John Plumtree after the match.

“The JP Pietersen try was the turning point for us. That was our moment of inspiration that spurred us to victory. We needed that because we were in trouble at that point as we were down by eight points and also down to 14 men.”

The moment that Plumtree was referring to came 15 minutes into the second half, with Jean Deysel in the bin for a dangerous tackle. Kurtley Beale, the excellent Waratahs and Wallaby fullback, set off on another of those dangerous runs of his, but when it was finally held up by the last defender left to beat the ball bounced off the Waratahs hooker and Pietersen, showing impressive pace, scythed through down the right flank to score in the corner.

It brought back some sense to a game that was see-sawing quite wildly, with the Sharks looking poised to take a big advantage into the half-time break only to concede a similar long range try that allowed the Waratahs to trail by just two points at the break.

“That was a 14 point swing in the game and I think it might have been quite different had we been the ones to score there. Maybe we would even have picked up a four try bonus point had we scored then and kicked on, but that try gave the Waratahs confidence.

“In my half-time talk I stressed the importance of us being the first to score and coming out with intensity, but it looked like the Waratahs had exactly the same team talk because suddenly we found ourselves eight points behind."

A big concern for the Sharks was that the Waratahs' second try, an individualistic effort by their stand-in flyhalf Daniel Halangahu, was again the product of mediocre defence on the part of inside centre Meyer Bosman. The former Cheetah was sound for most of the game, but the one tackle he did miss again led to a try, as has often been the case for him this season.

Plumtree acknowledged that his team’s performance was far from perfect, that they still struggled to get continuity into their game, and that a lot of work was necessary before the next obstacle in what was a four match must-sin sequence through to the end of the regular season could be approached with any confidence.

That obstacle comes in the form of the Cheetahs, who have been the Sharks’ bogey team in Super Rugby down the years. It has been a while since the Sharks last won in Bloemfontein in Super Rugby (2007) but they did win their in the Currie Cup both last season and in 2009.

Plumtree was impressed with the step-up made by Jean Deysel, the hulking flanker who made a significant improvement on his performance of the week before.

“Jean has been out for a long time and is coming back so he will get better by the week and in this match he delivered what we wanted,” said Plumtree.

The Waratahs, who never really looked up for the physical battle that they have tended to dominate against the Sharks in recent years, were in trouble every time that Deysel carried the ball. Deysel also contributed in other areas and his ability to couple scavenging for the ball on the ground with his carrying skills could make him an attractive option for the Springboks.

However Deysel could find himself missing from the team to play the Cheetahs as he is to face a hearing for the challenge that saw him yellow carded. If he is forced out it will be a big blow to the Sharks' chances.

Also back to his best after some iffish recent performances was flyhalf Patrick Lambie, who appeared to benefit early on from the snappy service of former Western Province scrumhalf Conrad Hoffmann.

But the Sharks are going to have to find a new scrumhalf for Hoffmann, impressive in his first start but injured after only 20 minutes, looks likely to be out for a few weeks. Charl McLeod will return to the No 9 jersey against the Cheetahs.