Three areas the Sharks can refine before their Munster quarter-final

The Sharks have still not been hitting their stride despite the return from injury of several Springboks, and their four-game winning streak that secured them a third-place finish in the United Rugby Championship’s league phase.

In the build-up to their last match, which the Sharks won 12–3 against Scarlets, flanker James Venter rightly pointed out that the Durban side have not yet had a complete performance this season.

“We want to play 80 minutes of rugby to the standard we can. I think that’s what we are looking for,” he said. “We are one game away from clicking and being a really, really dangerous side.”

He hoped the Scarlets contest would be the one that would bring it all together. Instead, the Sharks ground out a tryless win against a threatening but likewise lacklustre Welsh side, who, like the hosts, regularly lost the ball when they had momentum in the opposition’s half.

Sharks head coach John Plumtree and captain Eben Etzebeth said they simply have to improve if they wish to beat Munster in their quarter-final in Durban this weekend. While Plumtree praised the Sharks’ defence and lineout, he and Etzebeth identified areas that could be worked on.

Sub-standard scrum

“The scrum was a bit messy from both teams, there were a few free kicks and penalties, but I’m really happy with the fact that we defended well,” Plumtree said.

The all-Springbok front row of Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Vincent Koch were replaced in the 55th minute by Fez Mbatha, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Hanro Jacobs, as has been the model since Trevor Nyakane’s long-term injury, with Ruan Dreyer also playing from the bench.

But the quality of the front row is backed by stars in the second and third rows. On paper, the pack is one of the best in the world. They have shone in some games, but not as regularly as they would like.

Inaccuracies and penalty offences

Finishing a game error-free is impossible, but lost balls and penalties can build up and be the difference in a contest. That was exactly what happened against Scarlets – the Sharks winning through four penalty kicks.

Plumtree said role clarity was missing, and the Sharks were guilty of loose passes and poor tackles. “There were a few issues around our attack tonight. We mucked up our launches, just through inaccuracies.

“We just couldn’t get anything right. It wasn’t a good performance from us, and we have to really look at the reasons why and get better.”

The Scarlets only scored through a drop-goal, using all of their penalties to go for lineouts and attempt to get bigger scores. But the Sharks will not always have the scoreboard pressure to keep their opposition doing that.

Sharks still require the finishing touch

Tying in with inaccuracies, loose balls and lack of role clarity, tries are only scored when no mistakes occur in the build-up.

The Sharks should be commended for taking their chances with the boot, slotting all four penalties. But they have only scored four tries once in their last six games.

Etzebeth was well aware of their need to up the ante in attack. “I think we dropped a couple of balls, made errors in our plays… Definitely going to fix that to go further in this competition.”