Pietersen: Sharks will be better next season

Head coach JP Pietersen said he is confident the Sharks will be better next season after finding their identity in the final run-in of this year’s United Rugby Championship.

The Durban union’s 18th-round match against Zebre at Kings Park, finishing 54-19 to the hosts, was their final of the season after they failed to qualify for the play-offs.

The Sharks ended their campaign 10th on the table with eight wins out of 18 games.

It followed a seventh-place finish (second last) in the Currie Cup, as well as exits in the Champions Cup group stage and Challenge Cup last-16.

Only one victory away from home

Overall, the Sharks won 10 out of 23 games across European competitions (43% win rate). If you add the 3/7 in the Currie Cup, it comes to 13 wins out of 30 and also a 43% win rate.

The union only secured one away victory across all four competitions, against the Stormers in Cape Town.

They could not win a single game in Europe, their best result there being a 17-all draw against the Dragons in Wales.

Pietersen holds a record of nine wins out of 16 games (56% win rate) since he took over from John Plumtree in December.

However, youngsters shone amid a growing injury crisis at the union.

Pietersen: Sharks boast more depth now

Jaco Williams and Zekhethelo Siyaya scored tries during the Sharks’ win over Zebre, rounding out breakthrough seasons for the two players ahead of their call-up to the Springbok alignment camp next week.

Pietersen said Junior Bok star Vusi Moyo also deserved a nod for his try and five conversions on debut.

He also praised loose forwards Matt Romao and Currie Cup Player of the Year Nick Hatton, as well as Sharks Breakthrough Player of the Year Phatu Ganyane.

“What we’ve built is exciting… Our depth in the squad is better than it was last season.”

He said his team had fought in every game since December, and while some would say results were disappointing, he saw the season as a learning curve.

“Today we showed we were fast, we were physical and we were relentless. That’s the identity we want to work on going into next season.

“We are building and going in the right direction. Sometimes it may not go as fast as you want it to, but it’s a process.

“After a proper pre-season I am pretty confident we will be in a better place than we finished this year.”