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Ken Borland


Courageous effort, but an accumulation of mistakes cost the Sharks – Everitt 0

Posted on February 03, 2021 by Ken

A gutted Sean Everitt praised his Sharks team for a courageous effort in the Currie Cup final against the Bulls but said a piling up of mistakes in the final stages ultimately cost his side as they lost to a try right at the end of extra time.

The Sharks were leading 19-9 with 15 minutes of regular time remaining, but the Bulls scored a converted try and then a penalty in the 79th minute to draw level. Replacement flank Arno Botha’s try with 72 seconds of extra time left then gave the Bulls a thrilling 26-19 win and the famous trophy for the first time since 2009.

“It was very disappointing, the players are gutted and I am gutted for them. They played their hearts out for 100 minutes, to be able to push the Bulls for that long, to keep them out for so long, made me really proud. But at the end of the day we let it slip. It wasn’t an isolated moment, just an accumulation of many mistakes. Our kicking accuracy wasn’t where we wanted it to be today.

“And one can debate kicking for touch instead of the poles, making it 22-9 maybe was the right way to go, but the players have a feeling on the field and last week in the semi-final we scored a try from that and no-one questioned that. Today we were a few inches short and then we had a baulk in the lineout when we were planning a trick play,” coach Everitt said after the heartbreaking defeat.

Flyhalf Curwin Bosch also missed five of his 10 kicks at goal, but a large number of those were from a long way out.

“Curwin has done it time and again for us this season, but today he was maybe not up to the standard we are used to. It was not his day, but all the kickers struggled, Morne Steyn and Chris Smith missed kicks too. Curwin is a great rugby player, missed kicks don’t make him a bad player. He has been outstanding for us this season and his game-management was generally excellent today,” Everitt said.

With a large financial injection now on the way from equity partners MVM Holdings, the future looks exciting for the Sharks and Everitt said the 2020/21 season had been a big success despite having no trophies to show for it.

“You can’t base the success of a season on one game and a helluva lot happened in 2020/21. We’ve also given a large number of players opportunities and they have grown and matured, the culture and leadership of the team has also grown, so the season was definitely a success.

“Lukhanyo Am has been a great captain, he has tremendous respect from his peers and the coaching staff do too. Through tough times, Lukhanyo has shown outstanding leadership and I would say we have had a lot of success this season,” Everitt said.

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    Christ-likeness is about bearing his fruit – We can’t produce it ourselves.

    For this we need the Holy Spirit in our inner being.

    “Stay close to him and do all we can to get to know him better. Spiritual growth is an ongoing process to which we should dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly.” – A Shelter From The Storm by Solly Ozrovech

    It’s a real challenge to become like Jesus, a living faith requires effort from our side.

    “But he always meets us more than halfway when our efforts are sincere, and strengthens us through his Spirit.” – ibid. We must obediently follow wherever he leads.

    “It is essential to develop a healthy personal relationship with the living Christ. Remain near to Jesus through faithful prayer and meditation. Then, when problems strike, you will find that he will be with you to help you overcome them with peace [worry has a very negative effect] in your heart.” – ibid.

    Remember that Jesus himself was not exempt from problems, nor did his problems just disappear instantaneously. So he can share your burden and teach you how to cope with it so that you can have peace of mind too.

    Jesus lived by Romans 8:31 – “If God is for us, who can be against us?”. He looked forward to a new heaven and a new earth. Just like Jesus, we must conquer sin and death.

    His life of abundance should encompass our situation here and now, and everything in our whole life.

    Surrender yourself to his Holy Spirit – it is his Spirit that gives you the ability to handle life’s problems successfully.

    2 Corinthians 2:14 – “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.”

    Co-operate with God! Walk the path of life in his light, like Jesus did. Jesus carried out his tasks in God’s strength. He took his problems to God in prayer and acted in complete dependence on him. He committed himself to God.

    He surrendered unconditionally!

     



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