Coach JP Pietersen spoke about the Sharks making Kings Park their fortress after securing back-to-back bonus point victories at home.
Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth shone with an “outstanding” offload to create a try for the Sharks against Leinster. Picture: Steve Haag/Gallo Images
JP Pietersen said he was still struggling to find the right words to express his thoughts after back-to-back bonus point wins put the Sharks at the top of the United Rugby Championship (URC) table at the end of round two.
The Sharks coach told media it felt “unreal” to be in that position following the second win which came against defending champions Leinster at Kings Park on Saturday night (score 26-20).
That, after struggling when taking over mid-season last year when the Sharks finished 10th on the table with just eight wins from 18 games.
The Sharks next travel to Cape Town to face the Stormers for their first away game.
‘They never looked off’
Pietersen recalled six Springboks for the game despite his youngsters and fringe players securing an emphatic 41-24 win over Ospreys in Durban the previous week.
It proved a decisive move as the battle-hardened Boks, who had been playing since the international season began in June, played a pivotal role in the Sharks’ win.
“I was quite nervous before the game. We only had one training session with them, on Thursday,” Pietersen said.
He felt they had showed their quality, and how professional they were, to quickly get back into the Sharks game plan.
“They never looked off,” the coach said, adding that when the Sharks needed an injection when Leinster went 15-14 ahead early in the second half, the most-capped Springbok Eben Etzebeth was “outstanding” with an incredible offload to set Bok centre André Esterhuizen up to score.
“I didn’t even know what was happening and André scored,” Pietersen joked.
“And (Springbok wing) Edwill van der Merwe finished it off with that intercept try. It shows what they bring. The rest of the group is all about doing the right thing, letting the system work. And the Springboks do what they need to do.”
Sharks hope to make Kings Park their fortress
The coach said the team had spoken about making their home ground a fortress this season.
Still, it was “really special” to secure a bonus-point win against the back-to-back champions.
“You can see I’m stuttering, I’m still processing that we won two and have 10 points. It’s unreal.
“Durban is special. You need to earn it to come win here. It’s humid.
“Today there were some unorthodox tries that came against the run of play. That is what Durban gives you, the Durban vibe.
“As a collective we told ourselves ‘it’s our home and we don’t want to concede points and we don’t want teams to come and get easy wins against us’.”
Ahead of his first full season in charge, Pietersen said the Sharks had “created a culture in pre-season where players can be themselves and play the game they want to”.
“We made a collective vision about what we want, and our goals. You could see today was a buy-in of players who really wanted to win today.”
