Cell C Sharks coach Sean Everitt had several reasons to smile after his team’s 40-12 Vodacom United Rugby Championship win over Glasgow Warriors on Saturday, and one of them was the performance of debutant Eben Etzebeth.
The Springbok and former Stormers lock played his first game in Sharks colours against the Scots and walked away with the official man-of-the-match award, a decision from the Supersport commentators that Everitt appeared to be in complete agreement with.
“Like I said during the week, Eben has fitted in really well. He was immense in disrupting the Glasgow lineout ball,” said Everitt.
“He did his lineout homework (on the opposition) during the week and he must have done it really thoroughly because we all saw how good he was both on attack and defence. When you have a solid lineout platform you have a platform to attack off, and that was what worked for us today. Eben also contributed handsomely in other areas. He is one of the best players in the world, if not the best lock in the world, and he thoroughly deserved his man of the match award.”
“I’m South African by heart”
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) October 15, 2022
- Eben Etzebeth ??@Vodacom #URC | #SHAvGLA @SharksRugby pic.twitter.com/7NgbAff1gv
The other Sharks debutant who has been around the blocks a few times with another franchise was former Emirates Lions flanker Vincent Tshituka, who had his first game for the Sharks delayed by injury. He wasn’t quite as impressive as Etzebeth, but Everitt was happy with his performance as he knew there were obstacles hindering the flanker on the day.
“We were very happy with Vincent’s performance, particularly considering he wasn’t at all well on the day of the game,” said the Sharks coach.
“He had gastro symptoms on the morning of the game but he was so excited to play his first game for us that he decided to push through and he turned in a good debut that we can be proud of for him and he can be proud of himself.”
Everitt was understandably pleased with the way the forwards and backs synchronised on attack later in the game, once the starting team had worn their opponents down and the star players on the bench had come onto the field to capitalise on the hard work of their teammates.
“We knew it was going to be difficult the in the first half, but we also knew we had power coming off the bench. The bench made a massive impact and the game really opened up for us. We played well off turnover ball and it was great seeing everything working together on attack, so I am very happy with the performance.
“Not that it was completely perfect, and there were a couple of things we spoke about at halftime. One of them was the importance of territory. There were a few times we tried to attack around the edges of scrums in our own half and that didn’t work, we should have taken the more conservative option. What it meant was Glasgow had us camped in our own half for a period of around 15 minutes.
“But in the second half we got our territory and possession game right, and we attacked with possession we won in the right areas of the field and it led to a positive result for us,” he added.
The Glaswegians impressed at maul time in the first half, and on one occasion mauled the Sharks back at an attacking lineout within their own 22 and ended up turning over the Sharks’ possession. There were suggestions that the Warriors weren’t being entirely legal, but Everitt was impressed with the way his players turned it around in that department in the second half.
“We always encourage the players to problem solve. We work on that with them during the week, but we don’t get that opportunity during a game on a Saturday,” said Everitt.
“The messages we send down to the side of the field during a game can only take you so far and they don’t cover something like what we had to deal with in this game, so full marks to the players for solving it.
“It was one of the games where the starting team does the hard yards. Unfortunately for them (Glasgow), they had a few injuries that made it more difficult for them, but that is not to detract from our performance. The guys made a big impact off the bench, Eben was immense in disrupting their ball, and when your lineout functions there is a good foundation for attack.”