There will be a degree of sympathy for the new Sharks coaching dispensation given the last-second nature of their defeat in Friday’s Currie Cup opener, but the sobering fact remains that the Sharks should never lose at home to Griquas.
It just should not happen, new coaches or not, and with respect to the Kimberley team.
There was a game in the late 1990s when Andre Markgraaff brought a Griquas team to Kings Park that won thanks to a brilliant kicking display by Gaffie du Toit. The next season half the Griquas team were playing for the Sharks, including Du Toit, Philip Smit, Gideon Watts, Theo Oosthuizen, Dave von Hoesslin and Albert van den Berg.
Well, the reaction to this defeat is not going to be that severe, but the disappointment will be, and however you look at it, the defeat is a disaster for a coaching staff that was anxious to make a statement in their first outing.
There was so much fallout from the sacking of John Plumtree that there really needed to be an emphatic riposte in the opening round, but instead came a performance that showed that the team is still coming to grips with what Brendan Venter wants from them – fair enough.
There were periods of bright play from the home side, but the obvious problem area was the set pieces. Griquas dominated, especially the set scrums, and it was perhaps fitting that it was a scrum penalty that gave them the healthy territorial position from which to fashion the last-gasp try that drew the teams level, and then wing Nico Scheepers did what Du Toit did all those years ago and kicked the conversion to return a 100 percent record (six penalties and two conversions).
It will be no comfort to the Sharks that Griquas coach Pote Human described the victory as the best of a coaching career that started off with a long stint at the Blue Bulls before his move to the diamond fields.
“Our forwards were great. The way we manufactured the win through disciplined forward play was very rewarding,” he said. “We planned to attack them in the set pieces, and it worked. I thought (tighthead prop) Lourens Adriaanse was great.
“There is always pressure on Griquas as a so-called small union to survive in the competition, so this win gives us a lot of belief. It was my best win ever with a Griquas team – and possibly my best win ever,” Human said.
Human said that he had great respect for Brendan Venter and was delighted to have put one over his old teammate.
“I played with him at Free State. He has picked up huge experience overseas and I thought it would be difficult to outwit him. I thought the withdrawal of (Sharks captain) Keegan Daniel (because of a knee injury) was big. I think they missed him.”
Venter did not appear at the Sharks’ press conference and that duty went to forwards coach Brad Macleod-Henderson, who was understandably aggrieved at the loss.
“It is obviously a very disappointing start to our campaign,” he said. “Our set pieces weren’t good and they dominated us on the pick-and-go game, and we probably got outmuscled a bit. So it was a very disappointing day at the office.”
Macleod-Henderson said that Daniel had struggled during the week with a knee niggle and at captain’s practice on Friday he had to pull out.
“Unfortunately it didn’t settle down enough for him to play. We’re hoping it doesn’t keep him out of this week’s match against the Lions (at Kings Park on Friday). The injury we picked up in the game was the rib blow that Tim Whitehead took. We are not sure how serious it is at this stage.”
Macleod-Henderson said that the players were devastated to have lost with the last kick of the game.
“We were leading with 79 minutes on the clock. The guys obviously believed they were going to do it when they were leading with the last play remaining. So it is disappointing to lose on the stroke of full-time.” - Sunday Tribune