Ken Borland

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised replacement wing Sbu Nkosi for his performance against the Pumas in their Currie Cup match in Durban on Friday night, saying his brace of tries were a fitting demonstration of why the 24-year-old Springbok is a World Cup winner.

Nkosi has had his share of injury problems this year as well as a brush with Covid-19 that forced him into quarantine, necessitating Everitt’s decision to play him off the bench. But it seems inevitable the Sharks coach will be finding a way of fitting him into the starting line-up when they return to action against the Bulls in a fortnight.

Nkosi scored with his first touch in the 53^rd minute when he spectacularly claimed the restart after the Pumas’ only try and then blazed away to score, and then he scored again with 10 minutes remaining with an intercept try completed with impressive pace.

“Sbu’s performance tonight was definitely the highlight with his two tries, he was phenomenal and showed why he is a World Cup winner with the Springboks. What a difference he made for us, he’s world-class in the air. He helped us win in Kimberley as well against Griquas. We scored some good tries through big defence tonight and we’re ecstatic with scoring seven tries,” Everitt said after the impressive 45-10 victory.

Because the Currie Cup fixtures have merely been a continuation of Super Rugby Unlocked, the Sharks now quirkily have a bye after just one Currie Cup match. They then host the Bulls at Kings Park on December 12 and they will certainly need to be more consistent in maintaining the level of performance they showed in the first half against the Pumas for the full 80 minutes against the log-leaders.

“I’m very proud with how we stood up in the first half, conditions were not easy but we were brave enough to move the ball around and score some good tries through big defence. I’m very happy with the way we played in the first half, the forwards laid a really good platform and there were three maul tries, we scrummed well and stuck to the plan.

“For the second half, the plan was to stick to our processes but unfortunately the Pumas put us under the pump at the set-pieces. You have to give them credit for that, putting us under pressure in the second half, especially at the scrums. But we also put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we certainly could have been better in the second half. But to win 45-10 definitely deserves credit,” Everitt said.