Sharks pressure is on re Sat game against the Lions

THERE was no beating about the bush from Sharks coach John Plumtree yesterday when he described the situation the Sharks are in after losing their last two matches and the huge importance of beating the Lions at Kings Park on Saturday night.

He rather creatively said: “We are staring down a hole and if we don’t front up we are going to be pushed in, and from there it would be very long way back. The boys know how important this game is, make no mistake.”

Plumtree said that there inevitably comes a time in this competition where the pressure is cranked up on a team, and that time arrived at the final whistle of last week’s defeat to the Stormers in the Shark Tank. The Sharks have slipped to third in the SA Conference and eighth overall, and don’t want to get left behind.

“I have cut the guys some slack until now because of our travel schedule. There are not a lot of teams that would have gone and done what we have done – four games in four countries is hard work even for golfers and when you have to front physically in addition to the travel, it is a big ask,” he said. “And it has not turned out positively for us in terms of results and now the pressure is right on. The boys have got to front this week, there is no choice.”

The Lions have had some close losses that could turn into close wins if they cut down their error rate, but the Sharks will be hoping the Johannesburgers’ losing sequence continues for at least another week.

“They are a positive, inventive side and like to attack from all areas on the field,” Plumtree observed. “They are encouraged to play expansively, and when you coach a team to do that there is going to be error, and they will give us opportunity through those errors.

“But that is no different to how we play, and we will give them opportunities too, but we must give them less opportunities than us.”

A major focus of the Sharks this week has been on tightening up the mistakes of the Stormers game, which saw them make 20 handling errors alone.

“It is all very well to have desire but if you are not clinical it can be thrown back into your face,” Plumtree said. “We must get all areas of our game right, from attitude to accuracy in what we do.”

In Cape Town in February the attitude was not there from the Sharks and they got a hiding from the Lions in the Neo Africa Tri Series.

“The only relevancy of that game was that we were not as enthusiastic as the Lions, and that is everything in sport. This week our desire and attitude has to be way more than theirs. It is a must-win home game.

The coach confirmed that lock Alistair Hargreaves will miss the match because of a hairline fracture of his collar bone.

Gerhard Mostert will replace him and Ross Skeate, who has been making a comeback from injury with the Sharks XV, joins the match 22.

Both of them will have been very busy this week along with Steven Sykes in sorting out an area of concern against the Stormers – the lineouts.

“We analysed where it went wrong and there were some poor options and some poor executions, so it was our own undoing. We know we have a lineout that can win ball, we must just make sure the right options are called and that we then we get it right,” Plumtree said.

“There is lot that can go wrong in a lineout. There is the lift, the jump, the throw, and all of that has to have good timing. We were a bit naive in our calling options in that we threw to areas where we knew it was not on, but still went there. So we have to get smarter.

“With Alistair not there it is up to Sykes to show what he can in leading that area. He has been around for a while. He partnered with Johan Muller and Albert van den Berg, and now Alistair, so hopefully he can do a good job for us.”

by MIKE GREENAWAY