THE Sharks have taken up residence in the Auckland city centre

THE Sharks have taken up residence in the Auckland city centre after arriving in New Zealand with an impressive 10 log points from their fortnight in Australia, and when they take the 90-minute bus journey south to Hamilton on Thursday, they will be in the ideal mental place to take on the unpredictable Chiefs given the fright they were given by newcomers, the Rebels.

“We are miles off being the finished product – we have no reason to be getting ahead of ourselves” coach John Plumtree said in reflection off his team’s narrow 34-32 escape with the spoils from Melbourne, and despite his team being the overall leaders of the three conferences. “There was a lot of frustration amongst the players at the number of opportunities they created that were not converted into points, and they are hurting at having four tries scored against them (they had leaked none in three games going into the match).”

Plumtree is indeed a hard taskmaster. This time last year the Sharks were propping up the table with the Lions.

“But that just shows you have how unforgiving this competition is,” said the coach. “The margin between winning and losing is so small, and last year four of the five matches we lost at the start we could have won (the blow-out was the heavy tour defeat to the Crusaders).

“That said, we are taking a lot of encouragement from some of the rugby we have played in these first four rounds. We have had some really good passages of play,” Plumtree enthused. “We are getting our game going again (after the success of the Currie Cup), and obviously the aim is to build on the good, and work really hard on cutting down on the errors, especially on defence.”

And it gets tougher on tour from here on in. The Chiefs are hurting after losing at the death to the Hurricanes at the weekend, and then it is the Crusaders – either in London or remote Canterbury town Timaru, which could not be more of a contrast.

by Mike Greenaway www.iol.co.za