Saturday afternoon’s 37-12 Vodacom Super Rugby victory over the Western Force keeps the Cell C Sharks firmly in contention for a place in the qualifying stages, with a good head of steam being built up.
While Cell C Sharks head coach Robert du Preez admitted that he was happy with the team’s result over the Force, he felt that the performance lacked some finishing, given that we scored two more tries than the opposition, and four in total, but could not close out a fifth try to get the bonus point victory.
“We’re very happy with the win and four points, but it’s disappointing that we didn’t get the bonus point,: he said after the match. “There are still too many opportunities out there that we’re not taking.
“We played some really good rugby at times but our patience let us down on attack. The funny thing is that on defence we were really good, our discipline was excellent.”
At times, both sides struggled with ball handling and that was due to the heat and humidity which hasn’t subsided since the oppressive days of February, when attacking rugby is almost impossible. Again, the slippery ball was both sides’ nemesis at times.
Having himself played for the Cell C Sharks during the special 1990s, du Preez knows only too well how the humidity can affect the game.
“The conditions at Growthpoint KINGS PARK always play a role,” he admitted. “I do think that the little individual errors when we got into their 22 proved costly even though it’s something we’ve really worked hard on. Still, I’m not happy with our conversion rate.”
He also paid our opponents due respect for making it so difficult to score a bonus point try.
“The Force are a difficult side to play against. Defensively, they’re very good so you have to work really hard for your tries.”
There was the welcome return to action for Pat Lambie, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. He’s been out since sustaining an injury in the week three clash with the Waratahs and looked his naturally calm and composed self when he replaced Curwin Bosch in the second half.
With Bosch now unavailable to the Cell C Sharks while he represents the SA Under 20 side at the Junior World Champs, the timing of Lambie’s recovery and fitness for action is perfect.
“I was very impressed, I’m always impressed when Pat Lambie plays,” said the coach, giving his season captain an emphatic thumbs up.
Although the bonus points have proved elusive, winning has not. With only two defeats in 10 outings, the Cell C Sharks are clearly doing something right. And they want to continue along the path of success.
“It’s always good to get bonus points, but they’ve been few and far between for us. In saying that, we’re happy to keep winning. We will just keep working hard and building momentum.
“It was really important that we built momentum after the nightmare of the Rebels game – which I don’t want to talk about any more – since then the guys have really performed individually. The pack of forwards have also performed well and we’re building nice momentum now.”
With the Kings (away) next week, and their good form of late, defeating the Waratahs and Rebels in their last two matches, du Preez admitted that not only was momentum a big focus for the Cell C Sharks, but also respect.
“There’s definitely no complacency for this week’s match, this was a tough match against the Force and the guys were sore afterwards. The Kings match is going to be tough in PE. They’re already talking up a storm for this match but we’ll be ready.”
The post Building Momentum appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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