Satisfactory tour but Sharks needed more

In terms of what South African teams normally get out of tours to Australasia the Cell C Sharks will have returned home feeling they did a satisfactory job on their three-match trip, but the final defeat to the Chiefs has left them some way short of their overall objective.

A win in Hamilton would have pushed the Sharks five points clear of the Bulls in the South African conference and, perhaps more significantly, nine clear of the bottom team at present, the Stormers. But instead they are just one ahead of the Bulls and five ahead of the Stormers, and both those teams have games in hand.

Sharks senior player Philip van der Walt, who enjoyed a great tour from a personal viewpoint in terms of his performances, said it last week: The final game will determine whether the tour would go down as a big success or not. It would have already been a success regardless of Hamilton had they got across the line as winners against the Crusaders in Christchurch, but they were held to a draw, meaning they had to settle for just two log points.

They still ended up with seven log points from their trip out of a possible 15 (realistically 12), but given their horrible home form this year, they needed more than that to completely right the ship.

The Sharks have four matches to play once they’ve completed this timely bye week, starting with the return home derby against the Lions and another home clash with former Sharks coach John Plumtree’s Hurricanes team before they head to Buenos Aires to play the Jaguares side that put 50 past them at King’s Park not that long ago. They then head to Cape Town to play the Stormers, always difficult on their home ground, in the final league match.

None of those games are easy ones but the Sharks should be able to boost themselves with the reminder of what they did at Christchurch. The Crusaders were understrength that day, but being competitive away to the champions is an indication that you are capable of beating any other team on a given day.

More than that, there were signs that perhaps the tour has been the galvanising force from a morale and team culture viewpoint that coach Robert du Preez hoped it would be before the squad left for Australia. The Chiefs were the better team in the final tour match, and in the final analysis it needs to be noted that the Sharks scored just two tries against seven in New Zealand, but the Sharks never lacked effort in any of their games.

Yes, that should be a given when you are talking about a professional sports team, but we know it isn’t always - cue Manchester United currently and also previously in the last days of Jose Mourinho - and it hasn’t been a given this season with the Sharks.

The Sharks appear to operate on emotional spikes and are at their best when they take on a backs-to-the-wall mentality, which may be easier to sustain when you're on a three-match tour than when you are waking up at home to sunshine streaming across the warm Indian Ocean. There is such a thing as Natal Fever; ask Ian McIntosh.

The Sharks took on a strong defensive mentality in their games in New Zealand and they were a couple of minutes from getting away with it across both games. But being home will automatically usher in a different atmosphere around the team, and at the very least they will have to work hard to sustain the “life is a battle-field so don’t give an inch” mentality best expressed in the play of lock Ruan Botha on tour.

Last year the Sharks returned home supposedly inspired by a great win over the Blues and a strong though ultimately vain attempt to win their final game against the powerful Hurricanes in Palmerston North but lost their next home game to the Bulls. They didn’t just lose, they were thumped by 30 points.

The derby against the Lions is probably a big one on the opposing team’s calendar given what happened in the first round game in Johannesburg (42-5 to the Sharks) and it is just the sort of game that in the past has tripped up the Durban team.

If they are switched on though they have it in them to win at least three of the last four games, perhaps all of them, and if they do that it will most likely be enough to win the conference. Apart from the mentality they took on board overseas, there were also key personnel changes, most notably the selection of Curwin Bosch at flyhalf.

There are still question marks over how much trust there is between the coach and the young pivot, and that focus has not been helped by Robert du Preez’s habit of switching Bosch to fullback later in the game and bringing on his son. Do that at King’s Park and you’d imagine the change will be jeered by the home faithful.

The Sharks’ chances of winning the conference may depend on Bosch being backed fully as the first choice No 10, and also for the pack to continue with the strong performances that have been sparked by the return to the mix of two powerful and talented players, Jean-Luc du Preez and Botha.

The chances of the pack being dominant in the remaining games could hinge though on the status of the two Springbok loosehead props who were injured in Australasia. Tendai Mtawarira flew home during the tour to have an injury assessed, and it didn’t look good for Thomas du Toit when he was helped from the field in Hamilton. Sharks fans should be holding thumbs neither are injured too seriously.