The Vodacom United Rugby Championship presented a difficult challenge to the South African sides as the Cell C Sharks, Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers all went down in the first round.
Having had their rugby opposition restricted to local derbies mixed with teams from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Argentina in the past, the move north was always welcomed, but the opening weekend’s action showed just how competitive the teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy are.
The Cell C Sharks put on a brave effort against Munster on Saturday evening, dominating possession and territory for long periods, but it was the home side, in front of a passionate fan base – not experienced by South African teams in 18 months – who took the honours.
Two late tries just before the end of a physically confrontational match masked what was a closer contest, but it was a timely reminder of just how dangerous the Irish team was on attack.
“That was obviously not the result we wanted,” said a disappointed Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt after the match, although he felt that the attitude and commitment from his side could not be questioned.
“Despite the loss I’m very proud of the guys for the fight that they showed, as well as their energy and work-rate around the field, they displayed that for the full 80 minutes.”
Losing is always a bitter pill to swallow, but it does identify areas of concern that may count against a team and Everitt identified the number of penalties awarded against his side as something to work on.
“From a rugby perspective I was quite disappointed in the discipline, we gave away 16 penalties and every time we conceded a penalty there was a massive consequence. So our guys will have to learn really quickly.
“But the first 20 minutes of the game was an example of how we want to play. We had territorial advantage, the possession stats were with us, but in the last 20 of the first half we gave away too many penalties.
“I thought at times we might have been a bit unlucky at the breakdown, we could have been rewarded a bit more, but for the youngster we have in the squad, it’s a great learning curve.”
From that perspective, Everitt acknowledged that taking lessons from the game is crucial to prevent a reoccurrence of the area that plagued them.
“We have three games to go on tour and we’re going to have to learn quickly on this trip. But this is a proud group and they will learn fast.”
The Cell C Sharks head to Scotland in round two where they take on Glasgow Warriors on Saturday (4pm kick-off). The Warriors also suffered a first round defeat to Irish opposition, losing 35-29 to Ulster at Kingspan Stadium in Ireland.
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