Hollywoodbets Sharks Currie Cup coach JP Pietersen remains upbeat about his young side despite falling to a narrow 25-26 defeat to the Lions at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
In a thriller in Durban on Friday, a late try by skipper Nick Hatton wasn’t enough as the visitors came away with the victory in round one.
“Obviously we wanted to win, it’s a tough pill to swallow,” said Pietersen. “Our main goal is we want to win the game, especially home games [which] are even more special.
“We can be extremely proud of the young guys that put their hand up. You can see them beginning with a lot of nerves, a bit of knock-ons.
“The nice thing about the youngsters that put their hands up is they are giving some fire to the senior guys about what the love of the game is and it’s good to see the passion and excitement. The work for us is to find a good balance.”
The World Cup winning-former winger said there were plenty of positives to take out of the encounter and much to improve on as they look to build up steam in their campaign.
“[There was] a lot of heart. The nice thing about what we did [as a coaching group] is to show them the history of the Sharks and what it means to play for the Sharks jersey. Also, that this is a privilege to wear the Sharks jersey. It’s not just another game. It’s a privileged opportunity to play in the Currie Cup.
“We’ve got a good reference point now on what we want to work on, and it’s only the start. It’s our first game as a group together. I think some of the guys met each other this week and that is a good thing.
“Going into next week we’ve got Griquas in Kimberley, which is going to be a task for us. What we showed is that we can look after ourselves and [can] come in with a positive mindset on Monday. We look forward to a good week.”
That clash with Griquas gets underway at 15:00 on Friday.
