Neil Powell rued the misfires in a loss to the DHL Stormers that has put the Sharks’ Vodacom United Rugby Championship playoff chances under the gun. DYLAN JACK reports.
A second-half comeback fell short as the Sharks were edged 29-23 in Cape Town on Saturday.
Having trailed 26-6 early in the second half, the Sharks launched a counter-offensive that put them within four points of securing the first away win at Cape Town Stadium since December 2021. However, reduced to 13 men by two yellow cards, the Stormers pinned the Sharks in their 22 and held on for the win.
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Defeat has left the seventh-placed Sharks with a tough task to finish in the top eight. In their final three games, last season’s quarter-finalists face Scarlets away, before hosting Benetton and Munster. That trip to Wales comes a week before the home Champions Cup playoff against Munster, but the Sharks can’t afford any more losses as seven points separate them from ninth-placed Cardiff.
“It does become win at all costs now,” Powell admitted after the match. “The Scarlets had a good game, we saw how they came back and nearly won against Munster. Going to Wales to get a result will be tough. We will have the services of the Boks, but does make it tough to play away and then home to play the round of 16 match against Munster.
“We will have a bit of a break, plan properly in how to approach the next two games and hopefully get it right at the end of the day.”
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Powell said that while he was disappointed the Sharks did not manage the closing stages better, he felt his players had turned a corner in their belief in the gameplan.
“Inaccuracies in the end, we weren’t accurate enough in those last eight minutes. We eventually got on top of them. We played patiently and waited to get them on the back foot. We tried to stay on top of them, it was just inaccuracies in the last eight minutes that prevented us from getting out of our half and the pressure was back on us.
“The guys showed a lot of confidence out there. It was more individual inaccuracies. There was a lot of ill discipline in the first half that put us on the back foot. We know the Stormers feed off your mistakes, that’s how they scored their first three tries. It is difficult to play catch up against them.
“At half time, we tried to change the mindset. We told the guys to keep believing in the plan and they did and it showed in the second half. The guys are starting to believe that they are good enough to win at Cape Town and put the Stormers away.
“The players can only play what we set out for them to play. You can say that we should have kept the ball. They knew exactly how we wanted to play and they stuck to it in the second half.
“Of course, it was an opportunity. We were in the game in the last eight minutes. One or two mistakes from individuals prevented us from getting on top of them. You could see the efforts from the guys. I wish they could have got a better result, I think they deserved a better result. One or two mistakes prevented us from scoring that final blow.”
Photo: Carl Fourie/Gallo Images
