Calculators can be chucked into the bush

BY MIKE GREENAWAY

Perhaps it is a case of clutching at straws but the after the disappointing 30-30 draw with the Lions at Ellis Park, the Sharks at least know exactly what is required of them heading into the final week of routine Super Rugby matches ahead of the quarter-finals – beat the Bulls or bust!

Calculators can be chucked into the bush – after four months of competition, at last the picture is crystal clear, even if is not the idyllic one the Sharks had hoped for – and it comes down to the victor at Loftus Verseld on Saturday advancing at the losers’ cost.

The Bulls’ balls-to-the-wall win at Newlands over the off-colour Stormers, coupled with the Sharks’ terrible – and costly – first-half performance against the Lions means the champions from Pretoria have inched above the Sharks on the overall log. Both sides are on 53 points, but the fifth-placed Bulls are a place above the Sharks because, in terms of the competition rules, the team with the most wins prevails over a team tied with them on log points (the Bulls have won 10 games and the Sharks nine).

The pressure on the Sharks and the Bulls for the precious sixth (and final) play-off spot comes from the seventh-placed Waratahs, who are highly favoured to win at home against the Brumbies in Sydney. The New South Welshmen kick off at noon ahead of the Bulls versus Sharks game on Saturday (5pm), not that the Sydney result matters in a South African context – the winner at Loftus goes through, the loser goes home.

Disconsulate Sharks coach John Plumtree said he had always had a feeling that his team’s fortunes would come down to this very last fixture in Pretoria.

“For most of the game against the Lions it looked like we weren’t going to get anything out of it,” Plumtree said at Ellis Park, “And ultimately with the Bulls and Waratahs winning, the outcome of our game did not really matter, because the winner now takes all at Loftus.”

The Sharks went into the Lions match without their three best ball carriers – Willem Alberts failed a late fitness test, Jean Deysel was suspended while John Smit was preferred to Bismarck du Plessis at hooker.

All three are expected to start this week against the Bulls.

“We struggled with momentum in the first half,” Plumtree admitted. “The Lions dominated the advantage line and once again we were off to a bad start.

“In the last four games we’ve had to come from behind despite the obvious plan of starting much better,” Plumtee continued. “The boys on the bench came on and did a great job, as they did against the Cheetahs, but we can’t carry on starting so badly.

“Allowing the Lions forwards to drive us over the line was very disappointing. Their try was a defensive error from second phase which we should have looked after, but overall the big one for us was allowing their forwards to dominate us with their driving.”

Plumtree said that his team planned to play differently in the first half, aiming for territory in the Lions’ half and exerting pressure though possession.

“But because we played badly in the first half, we had to play differently in the second,” he said. “We had no choice, we had to play from deep and ended up playing some really good rugby.

“The Lions got tired because we gave the ball a bit more width and with them having just returned from their overseas trip, it affected them in the last 20 minutes when we upped the tempo,” Plumtree continued.

“That was always going to be the plan against them, to up the tempo at the end of the game whether we were up or down, but we didn’t think we’d have to score three tries in the last 20 minutes just to break even. Again, it goes back to the start, we have to make sure it’s not a recurring theme this weekend.”