Sharks look to a Rebels redemption

Steve Haag Gallo Images

DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 16, during the Super Rugby match between The Sharks and Brumbies at Kings Park on March 16, 2013 in Durban, South Africa Photo by Steve Haag / Gallo Images

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Durban - It was over in 25 minutes. That was the frank admission of Sharks assistant coach Grant Bashford after the post-mortem of the weekend’s 29-10 defeat to the Brumbies.

“There is huge disappointment with the intensity of everything we did in that 25-minute period, we just weren’t good enough,” he said.

“We were always going to play catch-up after that and we couldn’t do that because we were inaccurate with almost everything we did. We were simply out-played and out-thought in almost every aspect of the game, and that’s the hard bit.”

It was always going to be tough coming back from conceding four tries and the Sharks’ defence let them down.

“They were getting really quick ruck ball which is difficult to defend against when they keep coming at you. They also held on to the ball for long passages of time, but we let ourselves down with the intensity of our tackle, that was disappointing for us,” Bashford said.

“And when we had the ball, we couldn’t hold on for long enough to put them under pressure defensively. A hugely disappointing day, but it’s how we come back from it - we can’t change what’s happened but certainly we can change what’s coming.”

That would suggest the Rebels are in for a backlash on Saturday as the chastised Sharks look to set the record straight.

“For us, it’s about being prepared, we need to train as much as we can,” Bashford said. “We know what the Rebels are going to bring, we’ve had a look at them and it’s about making sure we sort out the areas that we need to and making sure we prepare really well for them.

“History counts for nothing and their previous log positions do not reflect that in all the matches they’ve played, they’ve been in the game and they are playing some really good rugby. It’s going to be a heck of a game here this weekend.”

Indeed, the Rebels beat the mighty Crusaders last year and it shows that in Super Rugby, on the day, any team can beat any other.

“They will look at our performance against the Brumbies and that will give them a lot of confidence, so there is no way we can afford to take anything for granted. We’ll be focusing on ourselves; we simply have to get our preparation right,” he said.

It will encourage the Sharks that they, at least, won the second half by seven points to three.

“What transpired in the second half was different to the first half, and that is what we’ve addressed. We know if we play well, get our attitude right and come out and play with the commitment we need to win every game, we can do that,” Bashford said.

“It’s about playing well consistently and so far we haven’t really walked away and felt we’ve played really well, despite winning the first three games.

“Our challenge is to get our game going and make sure we play well, because if we do that, we’ll back ourselves to beat anyone.”

Questions are always asked after a loss and teams learn more from a loss than from a win.

“It’s about regrouping and getting over this weekend pretty quickly because there is an opportunity to fix it this Saturday. We spent all day on Sunday analysing this game and coming up with some solutions, and we now have this week to put those plans in place, and I guess the result of that will be how we play this weekend.

“What we’re after is a performance that we can be proud of.”

The Mercury