DURBAN - It remains to be seen whether the Sharks can glean enough confidence out of their haphazard defeat of the Sunwolves at the weekend to have a full crack at the Stormers on Saturday in what promises to be an intriguing Super Rugby derby at Kings Park.
On the positive side were six well-taken tries and 38 points on the road to lift morale after the Kings catastrophe but the Sharks were also their own worst enemies, and if they are as charitable with turnovers this week as they were in Singapore, the Capetonians will take them to the cleaners.
Through thick and thin, the Stormers have stuck to their attacking guns and they feed off turnover ball. It is the high-octane fuel for their running rugby and on Saturday the Sharks will spend more time behind their posts than they would care to if they do not drastically cut down their error count.
Photo: Jeremy Lee/Reuters
Against the Sunwolves, they made 17 handling errors and lost three line-outs. Better teams would have made them pay - the Sunwolves are not bottom of the overall standings for nothing.
You could say that in this game there was plenty of the good, the bad and the ugly from the Sharks. Unfortunately it was often the bad undoing the good and the result was the ugly reality of lost opportunity.
Photo: Jeremy Lee/Reuters
Too often there was exciting forward surges, with the Du Preez twins especially prominent, only for the promising movement to break down with an elementary error.
After almost every game this season coach Robert du Preez has bemoaned his team’s poor conversion rate of entries into the opposition 22, and the ongoing problem was omnipresent in Singapore.
Du Preez, though will be pleased with the performances of many of the individuals. Lwazi Mvovo was exceptional at fullback and Garth April enterprising at 10.