Sean Everitt has lamented the Sharks’ poor display, particularly up front, that led to them losing 27-12 to the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Lions ran in two unanswered tries as they powered to an emphatic win over their more favoured opposition and they were fully deserving of the result. But it has to be said that the Lions were also aided by this being one of the Sharks’ worst performances so far this season.
Granted they were missing a few key players through injury, but the Sharks’ discipline was non-existent as they conceded 14 penalties; while their defence was breached at will by the Lions, particularly in the second half. Another worry will be the tactical kicking of Bosch and Nohamba, which left much to be desired in this encounter.
Highlights: Lions too good for Sharks
Commenting on where it all went wrong for his charges, Everitt singled out his team’s inability to perform when they are under pressure.
‘We’re not going to make excuses for that performance,’ Everitt said. ‘We still prepared well for this game. What happened here is that when you’re rightly conceding a lot of penalties because you are under pressure, you fail to fire a shot.
‘The individuals that started in this game are experienced ones and have played at one of the highest levels, meaning Super Rugby. We have no excuses, we just need to work harder and get better. You shouldn’t be winning games when you concede so many penalties.
‘However, the Lions did put us under pressure and that’s one of the reasons why the count was so high. We’re a performance-driven team and we performed way below standard.’
While the Sharks were thoroughly out-scrummed and outplayed at the breakdown, it’s his team’s impotence on attack that left Everitt disappointed most.
“We just have to take it on the chin that we didn’t score a try. We have been scoring tries, we were in the top two of that category going into the game.
‘This was purely a error-ridden performance and when you make so many of them like we did in this game, you’re not going to score tries.’
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