Sharks need to convert prettiness into points

The Sharks have played some thrilling rugby and their attack has been creating opportunities in their first two games, but they have only had intermittent success in actually rounding off those chances, leading to much frustration at Kings Park.

Patience is usually the medicine recommended for frustration and that has certainly been the watchword in Durban this week ahead of their match against the Sunwolves on Saturday.

“It is frustrating when you have the opposition on the ropes and you don’t put them away, and then it becomes even more annoying when you watch the replay of the game and you see the opportunities you created and did not convert. But I really don’t think we are far away.

“We just need to be patient. It is not like we are going on to the field and don’t know what we are doing. We are on the right track. We just have to click, start converting our opportunities and eliminating our mistakes, and I think the rest will click into place. I think we are close to doing that, we just have to believe and stick to what we are doing,” senior player Keegan Daniel said this week.

Speaking after the 24-24 draw with the Waratahs, coach Robert du Preez had the same message:

“The conditions were humid so the ball was very difficult to handle, but even after applying the pressure, we just let them off the hook too many times. The game was there for the taking but we were just impatient at times, right to the death. We were trying to play too much rugby instead of slowing it down. We had quite a few opportunities, we didn’t take those. And our game management was poor.

“But there was some really positive stuff out there: the tries we scored were really good and I was very happy with the scrums, that was a huge improvement. But we just need to learn to show more patience. That’s the message to the team before we play the Sunwolves – To be more patient,” Du Preez said.

The good news for the Sharks is that the pack, outplayed by the Lions in the opening round, were able to supply plenty of front-foot ball against a Wallabies-laden Waratahs side.

They will be expecting to enjoy the same dominance against the Sunwolves, and then hope to finish off many more of their opportunities.

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