Johannesburg - The Sharks arrive home from Dublin on Sunday having achieved their pre-tour goal of harvesting at least 10 points from their three games, but perhaps more important than the log points is the belief they have engendered that they can more than mix it with the best in Europe.
As coach Sean Everitt said, it is very seldom that Leinster at full strength — as they were on Saturday night — concede five tries or 34 points, and the Sharks’ attack was indeed breathtaking at times, and now they have to brush up on their defence.
It was a touch ironic that the two Sharks players who each scored a brace of tries were also guilty of one-on-one defensive errors and as Nick Mallett and Breyton Paulse said in the SuperSport studio of Aphelele Fassi and Thaakir Abrahams: “You have to make your tackles! You won’t make the Boks if you don’t make your tackles.”
All in all, though, it was a successful tour and it was undertaken with none of the Sharks’ Springbok contingent, and it will be the latter players that will now slot into the team for Saturday’s homecoming clash with the Glasgow Warriors, who will be full of confidence after smashing the Bulls at the weekend.
No doubt Hollywoodbets Kings Park will be heaving as Eben Etzebeth makes his debut for the Sharks and is supported by Bok teammates Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche, Siya Kolisi, Makazole Mapimpi and Jaden Hendrikse.
These Boks have been training at the Shark Tank under coaches Etienne Fynn and Joey Mongalo to get up to speed with what they missed in the Sharks’ pre-season, and they will be ready to assimilate into the starting 15 as Everitt gives some of the tourists a break.
Another interesting face to expect in the team to play the Warriors is Vincent Tshituka. The former Lion is over a shoulder injury and flew to Dublin last week to train with the team to ready himself for the Warriors clash.
Speaking of Everitt, the coach said he was proud of the application his players showed in taking on the Irish giants.
“The boys tried really hard, the effort was there and the energy they displayed on the field to fight until the end was really good,” Everitt said from Dublin.
“Unfortunately individual errors cost us dearly. We were up against a class outfit and (flyhalf) Johnny Sexton was world-class in the second half — he put us under huge pressure but in saying that, we were able to score five really good tries which we are pleased about.
“Our goal on this tour was to come home with 10 points and we have achieved that, but in saying that we are not happy to have conceded 50,” Everitt added.
“Not many teams have scored 34 points against Leinster, never mind five tries, so there is a lot of positives we take out of this game and we will continue to grow with this young group we have.”
IOL Sport