Cape Town — The Sharks were “hurting” in the change-room after going down 30-27 to the Bulls in a thrilling United Rugby Championship quarter-final, but coach Sean Everitt was proud of the effort put in by his team at Loftus Versfeld.
It was a case of so near and yet so far for the Durbanites after they fought back from 27-13 to level the scores at 27-27 with five minutes to go in Pretoria on Saturday.
Tries by Jaden Hendrikse and Sikhumbuzo Notshe in the second half gave the Sharks a real chance of snatching a victory, and when one considers that their forwards dominated for large passages of play, they will feel as if they lost a game that they should’ve won.
But in the end, Bulls flyhalf Chris Smith stayed cool under pressure to slot a match-winning drop goal in the final act of the game to send Jake White’s team into next week’s semi-final against Leinster in Dublin.
“To be quite honest, the team is hurting down in the change-room. Extremely disappointed… and I’m just proud of the guys for the effort that they showed today, and the character to come back from where they were in the game,” Everitt said at the post-match press conference.
“Unfortunately, a couple of soft moments – and I’m talking about us pressurising the Bulls in the first 20 minutes, and not coming away with the reward. Leaking a soft try… I think that’s been a bit of the story of our season.
“At the end, it could have gone either way. I thought maybe we could’ve been a little bit more fortunate in the last five minutes. We thought we did well to hang on to the ball and put pressure (on the Bulls) to try and earn a penalty, which could’ve maybe turned the game in our favour – but it wasn’t to be.”
Sharks captain Thomas du Toit bemoaned his team’s lack of finishing on attack, with the visitors displaying much more ambition with ball-in-hand than in previous games, but with the last pass just not going to hand at times.
“You can’t fault the effort, the effort was there. I just think it’s the story of the season for us. We are creating so many opportunities and we are not executing. That’s something we are going to have to have a hard look at and just come back firing,” the tighthead prop told SuperSport in a TV interview.
“Credit to the Bulls — they played unbelievable rugby, they took their opportunities and ja, worthy opponents. Isn’t that rugby for you? It’s a game of very small margins, and the Bulls understood that, and they executed their opportunities.”
Everitt felt that his big-name Springboks such as Siya Kolisi, Lukhanyo Am, Bongi Mbonambi, Makazole Mapimpi and Ox Nche had made the necessary impact, but that the Sharks’ defence had let the team down.
“We do have a lot of Springboks in the team, and I believe those players stood up today, and they can be proud of their efforts. It’s a difficult one to answer, as this team is trying. It’s the last pass that doesn’t go to hand, and an example of that was down the left touchline in the first half, where we throw the ball forward,” the coach said.
“The Sharks believed that we could beat the Bulls at Loftus, and maybe if we had executed a little better — and I’m talking about the defence as well — maybe the result would’ve been the other way around.
“We spoke about not giving the Bulls possessions in our 22, and that’s exactly what we did. The Bulls are really clinical when they are in your 22 — and I think they have the highest completion rate when in the opposition’s 22.
“So, we knew it was going to be tough for us, and unfortunately we conceded there. I thought we could’ve maybe put up more of a fight over our goal-line… maybe we could’ve worked a little bit harder in that area of the field.”
Points-Scorers
Bulls 30 — Tries: Madosh Tambwe, Marcell Coetzee, Cornal Hendricks. Conversions: Chris Smith (3). Penalties: Smith (2). Drop goal: Smith (1).
Sharks 27 — Tries: Bongi Mbonambi, Jaden Hendrikse, Sikhumbuzo Notshe. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (3). Penalties: Bosch (2).
IOL Sport