Sharks coach Robert du Preez says he is willing to give Thomas du Toit time to settle at tighthead prop.

The 22-year-old has been moved from loosehead to tighthead at the request of SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus.

He was given a torrid time at the scrum by Lions loosehead Jacques van Rooyen at Ellis Park on Saturday, with the Sharks going on to lose 26-19.

However, Du Preez says Du Toit needs time to make the position his own.

‘There are going to be obstacles along the way, but he is only going to get better playing at tighthead.

‘I think after the first scrum, we really battled to get back into it and regain our composure. It is always tough when your scrum is going back like that, but we will come back from it.’

WATCH: Highlights of Lions vs Sharks

Du Preez rued the errors the Sharks made on attack, adding that his side lacked the patience to convert opportunities into points.

‘It’s never good to lose in such a way, especially when we created a lot of opportunities. I think we lacked patience at crucial times so I’m not happy with that.

‘In our previous two [pre-season] games, we made very few handling errors and today was just one after the other. This is Super Rugby and we were playing against a quality side, so you have to look after the ball.’

Photo: Christiaan Kotze/Gallo Images