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Durban - Sharks forward coach Ryan Strudwick says there is a firm commitment to improve this weekend against the Cheetahs after a less than satisfactory performance against the Kings last Saturday.
"We are really disappointed with the way we played, the key focus all week was about not giving them any soft tries and we literally gifted them two, so that wasn’t great," he told the Sharks website.
"Those tries were purely down to our own undoing. Otherwise, defensively we were good but we were poor on attack."
There were a number of split balls and possession lost in contact – by both teams – which Strudwick explained was down to a wet and slippery ball.
"Conditions aren’t great for running rugby at this time of year, we are going to make mistakes, but in saying that, admittedly we did make too many this weekend," he said.
Was it a wake-up call?
"Perhaps it was a good thing that it was such a poor performance because we will have to lift our game against the Cheetahs," said Strudwick.
"We must also remember though that we made seven changes for the Kings’ game and it didn’t all go according to the plan of building continuity."
He described the general mood in the camp after the Kings in positive terms, explaining that there is a determination to steer the ship back onto a steady course.
"The mood is good, but it’s also good that the guys are upset with the way they played, they know they let themselves and our fans and team down," said Strudwick.
"We made far too many unforced errors, we gifted them ball and we gifted them tries. There is also a sense of relief because if we’d lost, it would have been disastrous. They know they owe themselves and everybody else a good performance this weekend."
