Sharks scared the daylights out of next opponents

It is an often used line in the rugby media, when a team really puts it together, to say that they sent out a chilling warning to future opponents, but when the Cell C Sharks ran all over the Lions in Johannesburg at the weekend it happened quite literally.

The Jaguares are next on the Sharks’ menu as they host the Argentine team at Jonssons King’s Park this week, and menu could be the operative word given the feeding frenzy we saw at Emirates Airlines Park. It has always been known that the Sharks could destroy anyone on their day, they just need to have their day more often.

That is not something that needs to be pointed out to the Jaguares. According to their coach Gonzalo Quesada, the team did sit down to watch the Sharks play the Lions. Then after 10 minutes they turned off the television sets.

"I instructed the guys to stop watching the television after 10 minutes because I thought what we were seeing would just scare them," said Quesada after his team’s 22-20 win over the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus the next day.

If that is what happened, you can’t blame Quesada for issuing that instruction. They will have to look at the video of the 42-5 slaughter sometime, and will probably have done so by the end of Monday, but it was a performance from the Sharks that bristled with intent, aggression, tempo, energy and good execution, and came pretty close to perfection. In short, it featured a lot of what has been missing from the Sharks up to now.

Ever the perfectionist, coach Robert du Preez though said afterwards he still wants more, something that might have added a few decibels to the fear levels of the Jaguares players.

"No performance is ever complete, but that was a long time in coming. I thought our set pieces were outstanding, and tonight we didn’t give away silly penalties," said Du Preez.

"There are things we have worked hard on, and one of them was discipline, and in this game we got that right. Tonight a lot of what we have been working on over the past seven weeks came together."

Of course, there was one particularly significant difference to the Sharks team that played at Emirates Airlines Park to the one that had played previously this season. When he was pressed by the question of Curwin Bosch’s excellent performance in his first start of the season, Du Preez refused to single out the individual for special praise.

"They all played well, from No 1 to No 23," said the Sharks coach.

There was little denying though for those who watched the game and those who commented on it that the reintroduction of Bosch, even though at fullback and not the flyhalf position many want him to play, was the catalyst for the emergence of the Sharks’ attacking dynamic that has been absent up to now.

Du Preez said that the players were playing for Beast Mtawarira, who was playing his record breaking 157th game, and no doubt they were. It was clear from the off that they were supremely motivated, and they had a hunger that is not always evident in the Sharks’ performances.

But the way the players gathered around Bosch and embraced him when he kicked the last conversion from the touchline also told a story. Bosch, when he was interviewed afterwards, didn’t make any attempt to hide the frustration he has felt at not being selected. From the way his teammates celebrated with him, they have shared his frustration.

There is surely now no question that Bosch should be one of the first names marked down in the Sharks starting team at every selection meeting. Whether it is at fullback or flyhalf, he simply has to play, he is too good a player to leave out. He is undeniably in a different class to the players who have played ahead of him, although in Apehele Fassi's case you'd have to say he's young and learning and his day will surely come.

Considering a switch for Bosch to flyhalf though - in which case Fassi could continue his development at fullback - could be the catalyst for transforming the Sharks from a team that has their day every now and then and is largely inconsistent, to one that hits the mark much more frequently and goes on to challenge for silverware.

It has long been argued that Bosch at pivot will transform the backline and at some stage he should be given the chance to prove that.

This is not to denigrate Robert du Preez junior, who apart from his goal-kicking never put a foot wrong in general play in Johannesburg, it is just that Bosch is too good not to be given an opportunity to show what he can do and he did send out a reminder against the Lions of his ability to engage defenders. He did not play at No 10 on a single occasion for the Sharks in the 2018 Super Rugby season.

Perhaps Bosch at flyhalf could make a difference on those days when the No 1 rule for the Sharks, which is physical and forward domination, is not met. The Sharks were completely dominant against what has become a weak Lions pack, Malcolm Marx notwithstanding, and the Lions selections at the back, with Springbok wing Aphiwe Dyantyi lining up at outside centre, didn’t help the hosts either when it came to defending.

The Sharks now play two games that they should be expected to win - they host the Jaguares this coming weekend and then the Reds the following week.

But that word “expected” is often the stumbling block for the Sharks. Then comes the hard part of the season, a tour of Australasia which features matches against the Waratahs, the Chiefs and the Crusaders. They finish off with away trips to Buenos Aires and Cape Town.

They would have played most of their home games by the time they leave, and they have already dropped two at King’s Park. They can’t afford to drop any more. It is time for the Sharks to show they can be consistent and to ensure that the Johannesburg game is not remembered as just a one-off.

If they do that, their current lead at the top of the South African conference might become meaningful.

Last year they thumped the Blues in Auckland and then outplayed the Hurricanes for most of the game before returning to South Africa to lose at home to the Bulls by 30 points. They showed then, as they showed this past Friday, that on their day they can beat anyone. Now they need to show they can have their day more often.