While it was a case of mission accomplished for the Cell C Sharks when they defeated the Sunwolves at Growthpoint KINGS PARK on Friday evening, it was a performance the team knows is not the standard they’ve achieved this season.
Director of Rugby Gary Gold admitted as much when asked if the ups and downs in the game reflected what has gone on for the Cell C Sharks in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby campaign.
While it wasn’t quite the performance they were hoping for, it’s not the standard they have set this season in some matches where they have been absolutely outstanding. Gaining entry to the knock-out rounds is easier achieved by winning ugly that the other way around.
“I don’t think this was a mirror of our season, certainly not the way we played against the New Zealand teams, or up until the June break,” said Gold. “But I am disappointed with the performance.
“Under the circumstances, it was a potential banana skin match and the guys stuck in there in the second half against a team that had nothing to lose. I think the Sunwolves are pretty well coached, they play a good brand of rugby and they’re never going to go away.”
Gold explained that it was a match that was always going to produce some form of talking point. “It was one of those games where you were damned if you do and damned if you don’t: if you win by 50 points, people will say that the opposition was poor, and if you’re in a scrap like we were, then it wasn’t good enough.
“But, by our own high standards, there are no excuses at all, we could have and should have been a lot better than that.”
The positive out of all this is the understanding that the Cell C Sharks set the bar way higher, and have jumped it regularly this season.
“We spoke as a team afterwards in the changeroom and acknowledged that when we regroup for training this week, there were going to be some harsh words. We didn’t do what we intended on doing and the players felt it after the game, that there wasn’t really a feeling of elation having made the quarter-finals, more a feeling of disappointment that we didn’t take the opportunity to kick on.
“But, in saying that, we had to make a strategic decision to do some rotation and maybe that did make it a little bit more difficult as far as cohesion goes. However, when we did look after the ball, we were cohesive and looked quite good. We did score some great tries.”
Gold identified a number of individual performances that impressed him and suggested that they have to focus on the positives.
“We’re in a quarter-final now, it’s not all doom and gloom. We didn’t play brilliantly, it was always going to be a difficult fixture against a team playing for pride and nothing to lose and we have to be honest with ourselves, we should be better than that. But we have another opportunity this week and a chance to right the wrongs.”
The post Positives From the Negatives appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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