George Whitehead, Andre Esterhuizen and Ethan Hooker celebrate after the Sharks beat Saracens in their Champions Cup clash at Kings Park in Durban last weekend. Picture: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images New Sharks coach JP Pietersen was thrilled to get his tenure off to a winning start, with his team gaining some vital momentum heading into a massive United Rugby Championship (URC) derby against the Bulls at Kings Park on Saturday. The Sharks picked up just their second win of the season,edging English Premiership side Saracens 28-23in a tight Champions Cup contest in wet conditions in Durban, which was the perfect response to their B-side’s heavy 56-19 loss against Toulouse in France a week earlier.
In the URC,the Sharkshave lost four games, drawn one and won just one, and are languishing in 14th place on the log, so the positive result comes at the perfect time as they get back into the competition and host their Highveld rivals. The Bulls themselves have struggled this season, losing five and winning three of their eight games across all competitions so far, so it is set to be a thrilling encounter between two sides desperate for a morale boosting win. “That’s the game of rugby, it’s unpredictable.
There were patches where we didn’t do well, but it showed the character in the team when we kept fighting. You could see afterwards how much it meant to the players in the changing room,” said Pietersen about his first match in charge. “It wasn’t a perfect performance.
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We lost some scrum penalties, aerial battles and lineouts when we needed to score. What we can work on is winning the aerial battle. “A win like this gives you belief, hope and lifts the energy in the environment.
It gives you motivation and confidence going into the next game. We know the Bulls won’t be easy. They’re desperate as well, but what a challenge it’s going to be.” Pietersen just took over from former coach John Plumtree, who was initially set to be relieved of his duties at the end of the season, but then decided to step away early and move into a position in the team’s backroom staff.
The Sharks then heralded in their new era with a new captain,Andre Esterhuizen, who celebrated his 100th international game for the franchise, and a win, thanks largely to the efforts oftheir returning Springboks, who were fully focused on the team’s revival. “I’m proud of the boys for the way we got stuck in. It was tough, it was tight, my voice is almost gone from screaming on defence.
Hopefully we have turned the corner and can start building momentum. During the week, we had a lot of honest conversations,” explained Esterhuizen after the win. “The players understood that they had to take accountability for everything that had happened. There were big changes, so we needed to reset and have a plan for the boys to follow as a team, not as individuals.
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