Rugby teams have often left Mbombela Stadium with their collective tails between their legs, expecting a positive result but having to return home in defeat and disappointment.
The message heading into Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked clash with the Phakisa Pumas was all about respect and not underestimating their opponents and the Cell C Sharks certainly delivered in every aspect.
Areas of concern leading into the match were addressed and more importantly, fixed and the set-piece in particular showed great improvement. It set the platform for the lethal backs to get involved, while the forwards themselves not only gained parity, but exerted themselves physically to use this to their advantage territorially, psychologically and on the scoreboard.
Speaking after the clash between the two sides, Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt gave his team and their performance an emphatic thumbs-up.
“We’re very happy with the result, I thought the guys showed a lot of energy for the full 80 minutes,” he said.
While it wasn’t the perfect performance, it would be unfair to argue with six tries scored against a team that has caused more than a few upsets over the years.
“We’ll have to look at the penalties we conceded and work on that, because it put us under pressure early in the second half,” he explained.
“But we came here last year and got beaten, it’s not often you get good wins here, so we’ll take it and enjoy the bus trip back.”
In scoring six tries to three, it was a convincing win, but Everitt admitted that this wasn’t the finished performance just yet.
“There’s obviously work for us to do,” he said. “We wanted to work on our set-piece in the week leading into the game and we thought it came through really well against the Pumas. We were rewarded for some good scrumming and scored two mauling tries which is always pleasing. I also don’t recall us losing a lineout either.
“But our breakdown work still needs a lot of attention and we’ll work on that ahead of the next match. It’s an area that let us down against the Bulls and we faced pressure from the Pumas, so it’s something we really need to tidy it up otherwise we’re going to make life difficult for ourselves.”
Having made changes for this match, there were further debuts to go with first matches in the Black & White in the two previous Super Rugby Unlocked games – against the Lions and Bulls – and it can only serve to strengthen squad depth over the course of the next few months’ rugby action.
“The plan is to try give our bench as much time as possible and because there hasn’t been much rugby played this year, it’s part of our plan to try develop the guys and give them game time so they stay match ready.”
The Cell C Sharks host the unbeaten Toyota Cheetahs at Jonsson Kings Park on Friday evening in their next outing.
The post A Pleasing Result appeared first on The Sharks.
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