Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold reckons he is so used to Blue Mondays that he will drive to work as happy with the Super Rugby points bagged at the weekend as for once he has no suspensions, injuries or red cards to deal with it.
Today it is all about the rugby, and the considerable challenge posed by the hurting Crusaders in what will be a mouth-watering Easter Saturday encounter at Kings Park, the 3pm kick-off being a rare luxury for rugby supporters and players alike.
Of course there is the little affair of an “appeal” hearing for Francois Steyn regarding his alleged tackling misdemeanour against the Chiefs but we understand where Gold is coming from – there are “no matters arising” from the tenacious, ugly win over the Force, a result that has pushed the Sharks to third on the overall table and to top of the SA Conference, although the second-placed Bulls have a game in hand.
“I am not quite sure how it happened (getting to the top of the Conference) given some of the challenges we have had but I am very happy nonetheless,” Gold said with a wry smile. “But nobody in our camp is fooled into thinking we are playing anywhere near well enough to be title contenders. We are grateful to win these close ones (against the Force and the Chiefs the week before) but I just feel we should not be in situations where we just get over the line. The penny has to drop that we cannot carry on putting ourselves in these pressure situations.”
The Sharks were in danger of losing until a dramatic moment in the 70th minute when a fluffed Sias Ebersohn shot at goal transformed into Lwazi Mvovo scoring at the other end of the field. That 10-point turnaround effectively settled the match. Gold wholeheartedly agreed that fortune had smiled on his charges.
“We were honest with ourselves in the change-room,” Gold said. “We are not playing well enough by our standards and we know what is coming this week in the form of the Crusaders, and our improvement is going to have to be incredibly vast.
“But I am happy for small mercies,” he smiled ruefully. “Nobody got sent off, which is a good start and then nobody got injured! And we managed to win the game!”
Gold said he was impressed with the character his team showed on defence, and the ever-improving scrumming, but not much else.
“I just know this group of players can play much better than this. If we have this kind of character and our set piece carries on functioning well, then we can be up there with the top teams, but we have a lot of improving to do on other areas.”
The coach was loathe to blame continual disruptions through injury to key players and suspensions for the Sharks struggling to find their rhythm, but admitted it has played a part.
“The disruptions have been vast, especially last week. I have been honest enough to say we were poor in this game, but it really was a disruptive week with the cards and hearings, and having to rest players. You take your 9 and 10 axis away (the resting of Patrick Lambie and Cobus Reinach) , moving Frans to 10 ... on Thursday we were scurrying around pulling Lionel Cronje out of the Vodacom Cup team to train with us because there was a chance Frans would not play, so Fred and Lionel were running plays that Frans had been running the whole week. Please, I am not using this as an excuse for a poor performance, but these things don’t help. It is not ideal when you don’t know if you have your flyhalf 24 hours before kick-off.
“Look, I think when we get a run of games where we can pick the same team, you will see genuine improvement. Let’s hope that run has started.” - The Star