Durban – The Sharks’ Currie Cup team is lessening the cloud that has been over the Shark Tank since the failure in the United Rugby Championship.
Under coach Joey Mongalo, the Currie Cup Sharks have won four games in a row – and they showed immense pluck to snatch a victory out of the jaws of defeat in Nelspruit last night.
The Pumas appeared to have the game sewn up at 22-20. with about five minutes to go, only to lose 24-22.
To be candid, the game had been a turgid affair until the last quarter delivered a flurry of tries, plus an ice-cool goal-kicking finish from former Stellenbosch star Nevaldo Fleurs.
And this is the reason why Mongalo was not a happy man, despite the win.
“The fight in the last ten minutes is the one highlight out of the game, but outside of that there wasn’t much from us,” Mongalo said.
“We said in the change rooms that we have high standards and that performance was disappointing. We are thankful for the result and pleased with the fight we showed, but on the rugby side we have so much work to do before we play the Free State on Friday (in Durban).”
Mongalo said he takes solace from the fact that good teams tend to still win games even if they have played poorly.
“We are growing in cohesion and that is why we can still win games such as this one. In the same breath, we must give credit to the Pumas because they fought incredibly hard. The red card set them back but they never stopped fighting.”
WHAT A FINISH!🤯@SharksRugby stun the defending champions in injury time to take a bonus point win in Mbombela🔥 #CurrieCup #WhereLegendsRise pic.twitter.com/GLGDNGrLaB
— The Currie Cup (@TheCurrieCup) May 12, 2023
Mongalo said the disappointing 70 minutes was not a case of the team failing to deliver on their potential.
“We get it wrong when we play off script,” he explained. “We have said there are two things that are non-negotiable in our team – one is going off script, and the other is not putting in the effort, so going away from the game plan is not great and that was part of our post-match chat.
“Next is the Free State on Friday. They are the log leaders and a very good team. We see it as a return Test match. They will be hurting from our last match, so we expect no favours from them.
“The Pumas showed teams how to play against us so we must we continue to find creative ways to impose ourselves on the opposition.”
@MikeGreenaway67