Sharks on track despite Crusaders loss
The Cell C Sharks will enjoy a week off following what has been a very successful start to the Super Rugby campaign.
After five weeks of rugby the
Sharks have won three, drawn one and lost one game. A massive win over the
Stormers is definitely a highlight while last night’s 19-14 loss to the
Crusaders will be an important lesson for the next phase of their season.
The Sharks set pieces struggled against Crusaders, which kept the Durban outfit defending for a large portion of the game. While that department has come on leaps and bounds, having to tackle a relentless Crusaders onslaught proved too taxing and the visitors managed to score when it mattered most.
The Sharks stayed in the game thanks to two tries from Springbok wing Lwazi Mvovo. His first was a well-timed intercept that cut off a dangerous looking Crusaders attack.
Mvovo then scored a second runaway try, picking up a dropped ball as the Crusaders looked to attack out wide in the second half.
In true Crusaders style, captain Kieran Read crashed over for the match winning try and the visitors then held the Sharks out as they looked for a winning score in the last ten minutes.
In retrospect, the New Zealanders looked the better team judging by their all-round effort. They were lethal on attack and had the resolve to keep the Sharks from scoring deep inside their half.
The Sharks can hold their heads high after a very tough five weeks of rugby. In contrast to 2015, their displays have been chalk and cheese and reflecting on their first defeat of the season, Gold conceded that his charges had to defend for too long which cost them in the end.
“We need the ball in our hands more; we can’t play without the ball for that period of time. You can’t expect a team to tackle that much especially against the likes of the Crusaders – that’s up there with the best attack that there is in the business so I must give huge credit to my guys for the character they’ve shown,” Gold said.
“It’s been seven games together now including the two preseason matches and this is our first defeat. We didn’t deserve to win the game; we must be honest about that and give credit to the Crusaders.”
The Sharks were heavily penalised at scrum time in the first half and their lineouts didn’t go according to plan as well. Gold hopes that lessons will learned from a tough forward battle.
“We struggled a little bit with the scrum in the beginning, some of the reasons I know and some I have no idea why. We fixed it at half time and gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game by getting a penalty off the last scrum.
“We’ll learn from this. Five games down and it’s not going to get any easier on our trip to New Zealand. So big lessons out of the game but I choose to focus on the positives and give this team credit for the character they showed," Gold said.
The Sharks will host the Lions at Growthpoint Kings Park on Saturday, April 9.
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