Johannesburg - The Sharks were much improved in their 39-31 defeat of Harlequins in their debut Champions Cup match at the weekend, but they are going to have to improve their discipline if they are going to be title contenders.
There was a red card for Ox Nche for going into contact too upright, resulting in head contact with a Harlequins player and then Bongi Mbonambi put his team under pressure when the referee lost patience with his repeated infringements and sent him to the sin bin.
The cards meant the Sharks were down to 13 players for almost 10 minutes of the final quarter and the Harlequins exploited that advantage and almost stole the game after having been outplayed for most of the match.
While Nche could be forgiven for the accidental collision, the letter of the law is being implemented by referees and players have to get better at going into contact in the correct body position.
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Mbonambi’s card was more warranted and he incurred the criticism of SuperSport analyst Nick Mallett, who felt the hooker was out of line and put his teammates under pressure.
The Sharks’ director of rugby Neil Powell acknowledged that ill-discipline almost cost his team the game.
“We controlled the game nicely in the first half. Unfortunately, the yellow and red cards in the second half put us a bit under pressure. Even in the first half sometimes, not being as disciplined as we would like to be put us under pressure, so hopefully, we can be more disciplined when we get into Friday’s (away) game against Bordeaux,” Powell said.
Regarding Nche’s card, Powell said: “For me, probably, at most, a yellow card, but the officials need to make the decisions on the field.
“We will obviously have a look at it and determine what we think the outcome should have been.
“Having one player less on the field is obviously going to make it challenging. You need to be creative and think about how you want to defend against a team that is so accurate in attack from scrums and you are one guy less.
“And if you have two players less, it becomes even trickier; the opposition is either going to have space out wide or at the back because you don’t have the numbers.”
But the Sharks held on for a deserved and much-needed win after some scrappy performances in the United Rugby Championship.
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“A positive result in the first game of the Champions Cup was obviously important,” a happy Powell said. "Only having four games in your pool means it is vitally important to get positive results, especially in your home games. If you slip up at home, it will be tough to get into the knock-out stages.
“The win was really important, and I think performance-wise, it was a massive step up from last week against Ospreys. Again, I believe that if the performance is good, the result will take care of itself.”
The Sharks have flown out to France for the Bordeaux clash, which takes place on Friday at 10pm.
IOL Sport