Johannesburg - The Sharks should be back to their full complement of their galacticos this weekend when they continue their journey in the Heineken Champions Cup.
Last week, it was revealed that the Sharks would field a “B-team” against Connacht this past Saturday, leaving their Springboks and first-choice players – under the tutelage of director of rugby Neil Powell – at home.
Led by assistant coach Joey Mongalo in Galway, Ireland, the hodge-podge Sharks matchday 23 summerily slumped to a 24-12 defeat, snapping a five-match winning streak in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
A torrid first half in taxing conditions in which they were disjointed and bereft of ideas, and trailing 19-0 – ended any thought of securing a remarkable result. They were much improved in the last 20 minutes of the encounter, but by then Connacht had already secured the victory.
Reflecting on the defeat afterwards, Mongalo admitted a degree of despondency but also remained positive regarding the effort of his team.
“I said to the team after the game we must never normalise the feeling of losing,” Mongalo explained. “It must never be okay for us to feel like it is okay to lose.
“When you stood there looking at them (after the match in the changeroom), you could be proud of them. At any given time (in the match) they could have gone away.
“When the score was 19-0, they could have fallen away, and when it was 24-0 they could have gone away but these guys didn’t. That is a massive plus for us.
"It shows the character of the type of Sharks player we are trying to develop and grow and that is really encouraging. Overall, and despite the loss and never being okay with a loss, I think if you look at the character, I don’t think we did damage to the Sharks jersey.
“If anything, we showed people that character, in that we fought for an entire 80 minutes.”
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Nonetheless, the defeat saw the Sharks drop to eighth in the URC standings with 30 points, and as the season progresses they will hope they do not rue the decision to send a ‘B-team’ to an inconsistent Connacht later.
Beating Bordeaux, therefore, will be close to non-negotiable on Saturday if they are to justify their tactic.
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They should have all of their players at their disposal - including but not limited to Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Thomas du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Curwin Bosch, Makazole Mapimpi, and Jaden Hendrikse - and also the comforts of home ground advantage, so a return to the winner’s circle should be the expectation.
The Sharks are currently fourth in Pool A of the Champions Cup on nine points and are undefeated after two matches. They will close the round robin stage of the tournament against Harlequins next week in London, and then face Edinbrugh away in the URC to finish up their January schedule.
IOL Sport