Ken Borland

Not giving away possession or penalties is what the Sharks have identified as the key things they need to rectify as they go into their Rainbow Cup match against the Lions on Saturday on the back of successive defeats to the Bulls and Stormers, according to lock Reniel Hugo.

The setbacks have left the Sharks four points adrift of the log-leading Bulls and sitting in third place below the Stormers on points difference. If the Lions win at Ellis Park on Saturday then they could actually leapfrog the KwaZulu-Natalians.

“It’s not nice having two losses behind our names but we have the opportunity to rectify our mistakes this weekend. We are conceding a lot of penalties and that just allows the opposition to kick out and set the rolling maul, which then takes a lot of energy to defend. So we have been working very hard on our discipline so we don’t concede penalties and also on keeping the ball.

“Against the Bulls we had to defend more than a dozen rolling mauls and sometimes your legs just give in. But sometimes it’s just one guy coming in at the wrong place and that breaks the system. A few guys have made mistakes and I was one of them. As an older guy, hopefully I can bring a bit more experience and try and get the team to gel together better,” Hugo said on Tuesday.

The Sharks have won their last four matches in Johannesburg, dating back to their 26-19 Super Rugby defeat in their opening game of 2018, and Hugo said their focus is squarely on becoming the first South African team to contest the Rainbow Cup final.

“The Lions lost their first three games, but they weren’t big losses and they had lots of opportunities to win. It just shows that all four teams in this competition are very good and the quality of rugby is such that there are no easy games. So it’s going to be very important for us to be clinical, we must stop them, get turnovers and create opportunities for ourselves.

“But the Lions showed how tough this competition is when they beat the Bulls to open the Rainbow Cup up massively. If we can now win both these last games then we’ll be in with a shout of playing in that final in Italy,” Hugo said.

Travelling to the inner city of Johannesburg to play at Ellis Park has never been easy for any visiting team, whether international or domestic, and Bulls coach Jake White was certainly not shocked when his team were upset 34-33 by the Lions in their Rainbow Cup match there at the weekend.

While the Lions were winless and at the bottom of the log, they had been extremely competitive and could easily have won a couple of games already before they hosted the Bulls. It was a potential banana peel and White was wary, with good cause as the Lions rode a superb scrummaging display and the Bulls’ own mistakes to inflict the first loss on the Currie Cup champions since March 26.

“The Lions are always difficult to play against and they had a really good scrum today. It’s not something we can’t fix and we’re learning as coaches as well, what resources we have. But you don’t know how they are going to react under pressure unless they are put in those situations. When you’re winning, you take the good; now we have to take this knock on the chin and learn from it.

“Playing under pressure is the only way you learn how to handle it and we were able to see certain players under pressure today. A lot of our youngsters were under that pressure for the first time and some of the decision-making was a bit wrong. Full credit to the Lions, but it’s not as if we need to reassess everything, this is an opportunity for the team to grow,” White said.

The Bulls actually played well to take a 33-20 lead but then fell asleep and made a host of costly errors.

“We were leading 33-20 with 15 minutes left but then shot ourselves in the foot by things like dropping kick-offs and not finding touch, and then there were the scrums as well. If you can’t get your set-piece right then every penalty just puts you under more pressure. I have to stress how small the margins are in this competition and you can’t afford to drop your guard.

“Although the Lions played really well, we probably lost the game because at 33-20 we did enough to win it. We scored five tries so our attack was not too bad and Nollis Marais has worked really hard on our breakdown work, which has become a point of difference for us. You don’t have to say much about Johan Grobbelaar, Duane Vermeulen and Marco van Staden, but a lot of other guys are also making the right decisions at the rucks,” White said.

Turnovers spread through the Sharks’ performance like the bubonic plague last weekend, and if there was one area where the Lions excelled in their opening Rainbow Cup fixture, it was the breakdowns. So not turning over possession is going to be the key focus of the KwaZulu-Natal side as they host the Gautengers at Kings Park on Saturday.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt produced the astounding figure of 29 turnovers that his team conceded against the Stormers in Cape Town, and given that they enjoy playing a fluent game based on momentum, that extent of profligacy is clearly untenable for them.

And the Lions made life very difficult for the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, throwing everything at the rucks and cleaning up in that department.

“The biggest factor is going to be the number of turnovers conceded so we’ve looked to tighten up there. We’ve worked hard at our breakdown, because what we did last weekend is not going to be good enough against the Lions, who have two guys going very hard on the ball. The Lions contended at Loftus until the 70^th minute and they are tough to play against.

“They come hard at the breakdown so it’s difficult to get continuity. Keeping possession is going to be really important so we don’t allow them any free shots at us. We have to look after the ball at the breakdown because we don’t want a stop-start game. It’s going to be hard because MJ Pelser was massive there against the Bulls and we know the Lions score the majority of their tries from turnovers,” Everitt said this week.

While the Lions loose trio of Pelser, Vincent Tshituka and Franck Horne combined well to obstruct much of what the Bulls were trying to do, the Sharks arguably play with more flair and, if they sort out their breakdown work, they cold be harder to stop. They scored a couple of fantastic tries against the Stormers, with hat-trick scoring lock Reniel Hugo showing the sort of mobility and handling skills that Everitt is looking for from the forwards.

“We want to speed the game up, so Reniel scoring one of his tries from a quick tap was good game-awareness. But the Lions also have young backs full of energy and Wandisile Simelane is a great player who was a thorn in our side in the preparation series match. So we need to be on top of our game and keep our foot on the pedal,” Everitt said.

Sean Everitt is a coach for whom consistency in selection is important and the Sharks will duly field an unchanged starting line-up in their Rainbow Cup match against the Lions at Kings Park on Saturday.

Although Everitt has put on record his disappointment with the quality of the performance against the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend, the 33-30 victory has nevertheless been rewarded with 21 of the 23-man squad retaining their places for the Lions match.

The only two changes to the group are rotational switches on the bench, with Le Roux Roets replacing JJ van der Mescht as substitute lock and Jaden Hendrikse, having recovered from concussion, now the back-up scrumhalf instead of Sanele Nohamba.

“We fought back well against the Stormers last weekend, the guys generally did well and showed a lot of character. I would like to build some consistency, so there are only two changes on the bench. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves in Cape Town, especially in the first 20 minutes when we slipped some tackles. But in patches, like when Reniel Hugo blitzed his hat-trick, we were absolutely sublime.

“But in terms of the performance not being good, we have set standards and conceding 29 turnovers is just something we cannot do. We want to enjoy our rugby and you can’t do that if you concede that number of turnovers,” Everitt said on Thursday.

Scrumhalf looks set to give Everitt plenty of selection posers through the season because the Sharks certainly have tremendous depth there with current starter Grant Williams, Hendrikse and Nohamba. They are all young, nippy and attack-minded halfbacks that suite the quick tempo with which the Sharks want to play.

“We have three great scrumhalves and we are able to rotate them. Grant is the oldest at 24 but he hasn’t played much because he’s been unfortunate with a few serious injuries. But he has come good now. Jaden (21) and Sanele (22) are both still relatively young, but they are learning and growing,” Everitt said.

Sharks team: Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (C), Jeremy Ward, Yaw Penxe, Curwin Bosch, Grant Williams, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Henco Venter, Siya Kolisi, Reniel Hugo, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Fez Mbatha, Ox Nche. Bench – Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wiehahn Herbst, Le Roux Roets, Phepsi Buthelezi, Jaden Hendrikse, Manie Libbok, Werner Kok.