Sharks to go from 'gritty to pretty' against Ospreys, Joey Mongalo

Sharks fans will agree that watching their team grind out wins in recent weeks has been like watching a rock being pushed up a hill, but defence coach Joey Mongalo is certain the summit is in sight.

The Sharks host the Ospreys at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Friday night (7pm) in a homecoming United Rugby Championship fixture after hard-fought wins in Edinburgh and Belfast consolidated their fourth position on the URC points ladder.

“It has been gritty, not pretty, but it says a lot about the character of the team, and we believe the cohesion we want is not far off,” Mongalo said before explaining why the Sharks appear disjointed at this late stage of the season.

“We were always going to have this dynamic because we did not have a pre-season with our Springboks,” he said. “We only recently got all our Boks back and we have been having that ‘pre-season’ now.

“Everyone talks about us having 12 Boks, but they need to play together, and the longer that happens, the more cohesive the performances.”

Mongalo adds that the fact that the Sharks beat tough teams away while not playing at their best has given them confidence.

“We are the first South African team to beat Ulster away, and we beat Edinburgh after they had been on their best run in the URC (four wins).

“We take a lot of pride in that. We have done something good on tour, we achieved something,” Mongalo said.

On Friday night the Sharks say goodbye to synthetic pitches, frosty weather and partisan fans, and hello to the green grass of home.

“We are home at last, back at the stadium we love, after playing in front of thousands of crazy Scots and Irishmen,” Mongalo smiled. “We’d like to flip that around. When we are on the attack in The Tank, we hear the buzz; on defence we hear our fans urging us on. We take energy from that.”

Mongalo feels the Sharks are on the brink of clicking and will give the fans plenty to cheer about.

“We were without some key players for a long time,” he explained.

“Let me give you an example. When you have Aphelele Fassi at 15, he has magic in him, and if we can create a one-on-one for him, he will likely score. When he is out of the picture, it is not an indictment on the next guy, but Fassi is special in what he can do, and he is missed.”

The coach uses Andre Esterhuizen as another example. The big centre missed three months of the tournament with a knee injury.

“Take that moment against Edinburgh when Andre held up three attackers by himself. Only he can do that. And it is not to point fingers at other 12s.

“So if you miss three or four of those special players, it is the removal of a chunk of the magic that can spark a team. Often, it takes one massive tackle or one great line-break to spark a performance.

“We have been pushing a rock up a hill. I think we are close to the point where we can lift that rock over and let it gather speed going down the other side.”