A weakened home team battled to go the distance with the New Zealand tourists.
A young Sharks team, with little experience, struggled in their match against the All Blacks on Tuesday. Picture: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
After a disappointing 54-0 hammering from the All Blacks, Sharks coach JP Pietersen said it was a disappointing scoreline, but that his team had put up a fight.
The All Blacks were given a scare by the Stormers in their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry opener last Friday, drawing 14-all in the 67th minute before pulling away for a comfortable looking 38-21 win, and there was hope that the Sharks would produce a similar challenge.
But it was not to be, although the home side did start the better of the teams, and had kept the score to 14-0 at halftime, before the All Blacks powered away in the second half.
“Look at the scoreboard, it’s not nice to see. But the boys fought from minute one to minute 80,” said Pietersen after the match.
“We couldn’t match their speed in the second half. We were just behind in everything they did. Every breakdown, every offload, every ball on the floor, they were just getting every offload.
“We’re in pre-season now. We’d prepped ourselves to go for it. It’s a once-off game, go for gold. I think that’s what the mindset was in the game. We were going to go for it, put pressure on them as much as we could. I think we did that in the first 15 minutes.”
It has to be said that the Sharks were unable to field as strong or experienced a team as the Stormers did, with a large number of players missing due to injury and Springbok commitments.
Special Nonu haka
But a special moment for them was seeing former All Black legend Ma’a Nonu, who has joined them in a short-term capacity, honouring his former team with a solo Haka after the tourists did theirs.
“He said to do the haka back is a sign of respect to the All Blacks. And it’s beautiful that he did the haka. He was quite nervous to do the haka by himself. That’s what he was more worried about. I got goosebumps when I saw it,” said Pietersen.
Sharks captain on the night Nick Hatton admitted that it had been a great occasion for the team, but now it was back to business as they prepare for the coming URC season.
“It was an awesome opportunity to play against the All Blacks. We are pretty disappointed with how that second half unfolded. But credit to the All Blacks, it was a proper performance from them,” said Hatton.
“It’s (now) back to pre-season for another month or so. It was good to get a hit-out, but we have lots to work on and we will certainly come back stronger.”
