The Sharks were desperately disappointing in losing 10-7 to a second-string Leinster in Durban at the weekend but they could have salvaged a draw when presented with a kickable penalty, Instead, they (unsuccessfully) went to the corner.
The lineout drive proved fruitless, Leinster held on for the win and Sharks coach John Plumtree was ambivalent about captain Siya Kolisi’s decision to go for the win rather than settle for the draw.
“I don’t like losing so I probably would’ve preferred to go for the posts, but it was Siya’s decision on the field; he wanted to go for four log points,” Plumtree said. “It cost us one point, him not doing it, but if we had scored then there would be a different conversation.
“Siya’s decision nearly paid off. It was frustrating that we got held up — the Irish are masters at stuffing your ball up in those types of moments.”
Plumtree added that he leaves on-field decisions on penalties to the captain.
“It’s about feeling the moment. The players are out on the field and sometimes feel different to us in the coaches’ box. So, they felt like they could do it.
“Bongi (Mbonambi) had scored off the back of a maul earlier and that would’ve still been on Siya’s mind. We just didn’t execute it.”
The Sharks had plenty of opportunities to win the game but were unsettled by the Leinster rush defence. The influence of former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber (now with the Dublin team) was plain to see as the Sharks backs out wide were often tackled as they received the ball.
The Sharks also defended well and the game quickly became a war of attrition.
“It was a tough arm-wrestle between two very physical sides,” Plumtree said. “They scored one more try than us, and that was just one more opportunity they took than us.
“We had our opportunities inside the 22 and didn’t come away with points. They have an aggressive line speed, and we knew that was coming. At times we handled it, and times we didn’t. It was the same for them as well.
“This game was a battle up front, and a battle of two aggressive defences. Both sides made a lot of mistakes, but again, it just comes down to them taking one more opportunity on us.”
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The Sharks forwards had the upper hand in the set scrums, as they did the previous week against Zebre, but once more it did not translate into points.
“It’s frustrating that we don’t win a game of rugby based around that type of dominance up front,” Plumtree said.
And once more the Sharks struggled with the contestable kicking. It used to be a strength of the Sharks but has disintegrated into a weakness.
“Contestable kicking, they probably got on top of us in that department as well. It’s an area that’s bugging us,” Plumtree admitted.
The Sharks this week travel to Lyon for a Challenge Cup game and then are away to Edinburgh and Ulster in the United Rugby Championship. They maintain their fourth position on the URC log but the home loss to Leinster has all but scuppered their ambitions of finishing in the top two
“We’re ambitious, we want to win the URC. We want to win a big trophy and right now, we’re still in it,” Plumtree said.
“We just have to make sure that when we get back into the URC, we play really good rugby against Ulster and Edinburgh away.”