Sharks wait on injuries as they look to bounce back

Cell C Sharks coach Sean Everitt saw enough positives in his team’s 38-22 defeat to the Hurricanes in Wellington at the weekend to remain upbeat but he has a few injury concerns ahead of the next challenge against the Melbourne Rebels.

The Sharks crossed the Tasman Sea to Australia for their last two games of the tour with one win in two starts on New Zealand soil, and two wins from three starts in the Vodacom Super Rugby season. Often the Sharks have struggled when they reach Australia on the way home, and Everitt will be hoping that is not the case this time as he looks to his team to regain the momentum they lost when the Hurricanes beat them at Westpac Stadium.

“We are looking forward to bouncing back against the Melbourne Rebels, but in saying that we have a few injuries to assess and we will have more clarity at the start of the new week,” said Everitt.

“Both Makazole Mapimpi and Boeta Chamberlain are struggling with concussion. We will be checking on the concussion protocols during the week.”

The Sharks also went into the Hurricanes game with a late change due to the withdrawal of Springbok prop Thomas du Toit through injury.

“I am very disappointed after the Hurricanes game. We all are. I am not looking for excuses but there were obvious disruptions with regards to injury, with Thomas pulling out before the game and then Boeta going down early and Makazole too. I thought all things considered the guys did well to stay in the fight. Unfortunately, a few individual errors cost us four tries.

“That will be the lesson we take away from the Wellington game. We have a team of youngsters and they will learn that mistakes like the ones made against the Hurricanes cost you in Super Rugby. But I am very proud of the fight the guys showed and I thought Sanele Nohamba did very well coming on and playing flyhalf for the first time in Super Rugby.”

Nohamba was good and with Curwin Bosch coming back from South Africa this week after attending to a family bereavement, Everitt should be giving serious consideration to starting Nohamba at scrumhalf.

The youngster certainly showed no fear of the occasion of having to play most of an away Super Rugby match in New Zealand out of position and his attacking X-factor will add considerably to the Sharks’ already considerable attacking ability.

With the forwards coming off second best against the Hurricanes, the Wellington game was a wake-up call to the Sharks, and also further confirmation that they need to make the most of every scrap of attacking opportunity that comes their way. They did that well in the first half, but their chances of winning the big games will be improved if they add some grunt to the pack.

Unfortunately, many of the stalwarts from recent seasons have departed the Sharks franchise, but Everitt could improve the chances of the Sharks getting some kind of go forward early in the game by selecting Le Roux Roets to the starting team.

The bulky former Pumas and Waratahs lock appeared to make a difference to the Sharks’ forward play when he came on in the second half, although admittedly the Hurricanes had the game won by then and would have been feeling the effects of their long flight back to New Zealand from Argentina during the week.

One aspect of their game that requires improvement for the Sharks that they can control is their discipline. They conceded 15 penalties in their win over the Highlanders in Dunedin in their opening tour match and it was not much different against the Hurricanes. They conceded six penalties in the opening quarter alone and you just can’t afford that against good teams.

Apart from the lineouts, which were horrible, and the scrums, which were under pressure, the Sharks also need to look at their last line of defence. Several of the mistakes Everitt referred to came in that area.

The Sharks won’t be helped if the experienced Mapimpi is ruled out of the Melbourne clash because they have already lost their other Bok wing, Sbu Nkosi, who flew home to have a hamstring injury picked up before the Highlanders game attended to.

Having said that, although they lost the aerial battle against the Hurricanes, fullback Aphelele Fassi and Madosh Tambwe did show some wonderful attacking touches. From an attacking viewpoint, the Sharks may have the most dangerous attacking (and counter-attacking) back three in the competition when at full strength.