Cheetahs coach ‘disappointed’ by lack of discipline in Sharks defeat

Poor discipline and their failure to deal with the Sharks’ kicking game were among the main contributing factors that led to their 19-13 loss in Durban on Friday night, Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie lamented.

The Cheetahs dropped to third on the Super Rugby Unlocked log, but Fourie believed they had only themselves to blame in an error-ridden game played in tough conditions.

“It was a very disappointing result, but it’s always difficult this time of the year in Durban with the high humidity, and it’s going to become even more difficult,” Fourie said.

Fourie complimented Sharks flyhalf Curwin Bosch after his good kicking display, as well as Sharks wings Werner Kok and Yaw Penxe for running a good chase line and mostly winning back possession.

“We had a game plan of how we wanted to play against the Sharks and we were in the lead (13-9) with four minutes to go but then made an error and paid the price for it,” he said.

The Cheetahs, however, were also made to pay for their lack of discipline after yellow cards were shown to lock Carl Wegner and wing Rosco Specman, with the latter’s temporary suspension coming crucially late in the game when the winger deliberately knocked a Sharks ball down.

“In my opinion, discipline cost us dearly and we conceded too many penalties and missed a few try-scoring opportunities, especially in the first half,” he said.

The Cheetahs, however, didn’t always get the reward for a dominating scrum, and some of the calls by referee Cwengile Jadezweni were dubious at best.

“It’s always tough to argue penalties after the game,” Fourie said.

“We will have to go and analyse the game, but in Pro rugby we were the most penalised team, so it’s a habit we have to change.”

Poor execution in the line-out, where their hooker often couldn’t find lock JP du Preez, led to the Cheetahs replacing Anrich Nel with Jacques du Toit.

“We had an attacking lineout on their line after they were penalised in a maul, so we wanted to put pressure on their maul defence, but then we missed the throw and we actually missed three attacking lineouts,” said Fourie.

That’s why they had to change where
they were throwing in the lineouts, Fourie added, and change their hooker as well.

“I’m not saying it was the first hooker’s fault, but after losing a few lineouts in the opening 50 minutes we didn’t lose any more in the last 30.”

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