The Hollywoodbets Sharks’ 66-12 loss to Bordeaux-Begles in the fourth round of the Champions Cup at the Stade Chaban Delmas on Sunday has seen them drop out of the competition after finishing fifth in Pool 1.
The Durban side will now compete in the knockouts of the EPCR Challenge Cup where they will look to defend their title after winning the tournament last season.
It’s a disappointing end for John Plumtree’s side, but they were no match for Top 14 leaders Bordeaux who scored as many as 10 tries on the day, with great French winger Damian Penaud bagging six of them.
The Sharks weren’t helped by their rising injury toll, with a number of players leaving the field early, but even then it’s a stretch to suggest they would have competed with the French giants for the full 80; even after leading 12-0 after the opening 10 minutes.
“There’s not much to be happy about, obviously [we’ve got] more injuries. Ox [Nche], Hakeem [Kunene], so more injuries, and a tough week with James Venter going back,” said Plumtree. “Playing against a really good side like Bordeaux is always going to be a big challenge [with those setbacks].
“At times we played some really good rugby. I was very happy with the way we started in the first 20 minutes, but really once Bordeaux got their confidence up we were really chasing them.
“When they got ahead after halftime we had to play catch-up rugby, and playing catch-up rugby against one of the better defensive teams in the competition was always going to be a big ask.
“We’ve got to move on. We’re really disappointed for our fans that we’re not [in the Champions Cup anymore], but we’ve still got the URC and we’ve got a URC game next week. So we’ve got to pick ourselves up as a group and go to Cardiff and get organised and see what we can do there.”
