Sharks receive rare full marks from Du Preez after Lions triumph

Sharks coach Robert du Preez is a tough taskmaster but he would have been happy to give his team 10/10 for effort after they upset the Lions 31-24 in their Super Rugby match in Durban at the weekend.

The victory ends a seven-match losing streak for the Sharks against the Lions, who also had not lost to a South African franchise since Round 12 in 2015, and it was based on a phenomenal defensive effort by the home side as the visitors enjoyed around 60% of the possession and territory.

“The boys will enjoy tonight, I can tell you that, and they thoroughly deserve it, the team was outstanding tonight. We obviously didn’t have any possession in the first half and not a lot of territory, so we knew we needed a special defensive performance and the defence was outstanding.

“It required a real fightback and I just said at halftime that they must play for each other. And we broke them down, that took it’s toll on them in the end, it played into our hands. This game was very revealing in terms of the character of the boys,” Du Preez said.

Sharks hooker Akker van der Merwe played less than 70% of the game, being forced to come off due to an injured shoulder hurt in a collapsed scrum, but in that time he did more than enough to win the man of the match award, putting in a here, there and everywhere performance.

“Akker only played for 55 minutes but was still man of the match, he had a fantastic game. Chiliboy Ralepelle also did really well when he came on, especially in the scrums. Lwazi Mvovo was outstanding after getting a late call-up and he showed that he can still run fantastically well.

“We’ll still take it one game at a time, but we’ve got our campaign back on track and our Springboks have come back with a lot of confidence,” Du Preez said.