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Cape Town - Springbok and Sharks prop Jannie du Plessis has praised fellow prop Wiehahn Herbst's performance against the Chiefs in Hamilton.
The Sharks lost the game 37-29, but recovered from an early 24-0 deficit to hold their own against the defending champions.
One area in particular where they dominated was in the scrums, with Du Plessis lauding the 24-year-old Herbst, who made the successful transition to loosehead.
“I don’t know if people realise how well Wiehahn Herbst played at loosehead, it’s not easy to go and play on the other side of the scrum, but he’s very strong and shorter than others he plays against, but I don’t think people know how well he is playing," Du Plessis told the Sharks website.
"He deserves credit and like the whole pack, was brilliant. Everyone scrummed, everyone pulled their weight. The front row does one job at the scrums, but scrumming comes from all eight guys. Everyone wanted to play well and I won’t say we wanted to play with desperation, but there was real intent. The whole pack played well on the weekend.”
However, Du Plessis said they will have to improve on the rest of their game if they are to overcome the Highlanders this weekend.
“Unfortunately we didn’t play well enough to win and that’s the biggest lesson we should learn: to make sure we play accurately enough that we use the opportunities we have to win the game.”
The Sharks' next game against the Highlanders in Dunedin kicks off at 09:35 (SA time) on Saturday.
The Sharks lost the game 37-29, but recovered from an early 24-0 deficit to hold their own against the defending champions.
One area in particular where they dominated was in the scrums, with Du Plessis lauding the 24-year-old Herbst, who made the successful transition to loosehead.
“I don’t know if people realise how well Wiehahn Herbst played at loosehead, it’s not easy to go and play on the other side of the scrum, but he’s very strong and shorter than others he plays against, but I don’t think people know how well he is playing," Du Plessis told the Sharks website.
"He deserves credit and like the whole pack, was brilliant. Everyone scrummed, everyone pulled their weight. The front row does one job at the scrums, but scrumming comes from all eight guys. Everyone wanted to play well and I won’t say we wanted to play with desperation, but there was real intent. The whole pack played well on the weekend.”
However, Du Plessis said they will have to improve on the rest of their game if they are to overcome the Highlanders this weekend.
“Unfortunately we didn’t play well enough to win and that’s the biggest lesson we should learn: to make sure we play accurately enough that we use the opportunities we have to win the game.”
The Sharks' next game against the Highlanders in Dunedin kicks off at 09:35 (SA time) on Saturday.
