Sharks on a break: Three things to work on before next URC clash

The Sharks head into their two-week break in fixtures in a somewhat ambiguous situation.

On the one hand, they crashed out of the Champions Cup after a dismal performance at home and in Europe, with one win from four games and a discouraging accumulative points difference of -87.

On the other hand, they enter the Challenge Cup with fresh focus and have the opportunity to defend the title on a clean slate.

They also ended their three-game losing streak with a 42–22 win against Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship (URC) last weekend and sit fourth on the table with six wins from nine games.

But with two wins from their last six matches, the Sharks know they have some aspects of the game to iron out in training before they next play against the Bulls in their second URC local derby at Loftus Versfeld on 15 February.

Here we look at three things the Sharks need to work on.

Missed tackles galore

A glaring flaw in the Sharks’ one-sided losses against Leicester (56–17), Toulouse (20–8) and Union Bordeaux Bègles (66–12) was the number of missed tackles.

Following Leicester’s eight-try drubbing of the Sharks in England, Toulouse’s superstar playmaker Antoine Dupont seemed to create openings in the Sharks line at will in Durban despite the home side analysing his plays in training, and repeatedly saying in the build-up they would shut him down.

In response, Sharks rising star Phepsi Buthelezi said they would “roll up their sleeves defensively” against Bordeaux.

Instead, they appeared mere spectators in France as Bordeaux ran in 10 tries, six of those by winger Damian Penaud.

Scoring two tries in the first eight minutes means nothing if you switch off defensively and end up on the receiving end of a score better suited to a school rugby game than one featuring teams filled with international players.

Giving the backline more ball

The Springbok-studded forward pack at the Sharks often steals the spotlight. But often it’s the slipped tackles, cross kicks and breakaway tries that lift a team’s spirits and win games.

The primary try scorers in the Sharks’ recent games come from the backline.

Jurenzo Julius (tries against Toulouse and Cardiff) and Ethan Hooker (Northampton) are exciting prospects and have proved it with their great runs leading to points.

Hakeem Kunene and Siya Masuku also scored against Bordeaux while veterans Makazole Mapimpi, Francois Venter and Yaw Penxe scored against Cardiff.

Mapimpi is as strong as ever under the high ball.

The backline is in a good space and with three players under the age of 23 they only have room to grow.

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Killing off opportunities

It’s hard to see fresh from a six-try bonus-point win against Cardiff, but the Sharks only scored 77 points in five games before that.

That’s 15.4 points on average per game, even less than the Bulls’ 26.2 average though they are emerging from a four-game losing streak.

It’s a problem Sharks captain Siya Kolisi lamented after the Bordeaux game. He did not feature in the match against Cardiff and will be proud of his players for stepping up, but he will know that one good win per month is not good enough.

The Sharks need to put big scores on the scoreboard consistently.