Sharks head coach Sean Everitt refused to offer up any excuses following his side’s shock 13-37 loss to the Griquas in the opening game of the Currie Cup at Kings Park on Friday.
Everitt openly admitted his men were second-best on the day and that a number of unforced errors paved the way for defeat.
“The Griquas totally outplayed us in every facet of the game. Not much went our way. There were moments of brilliance which were spoilt by individual errors, so we weren’t able to capitalize on the opportunities that we had,” the 49-year-old said.
“We need to take a hard look at ourselves. It’s not the end of the world for us. We only got together last Friday; we’ve been in this situation before. [But] I think it’s a big wake up call for the Sharks union and the players.
“Us as management, we will take responsibility for that and we will certainly work harder to put in a much-improved performance next week.”
When pressed about whether he felt inexperience played a role in the defeat, particularly since this Griquas outfit had come off the back of winning the SuperSport Challenge, Everitt remained impassive in his response.
“This group has been together. There were two youngsters who came off the bench of which both were involved in Super Rugby so it’s not an excuse for us.
“There are guys that played today that would have liked more opportunities in Super Rugby so there was obviously motivation from their side to perform tonight. But collectively, as a whole, we were poor.
He went on to highlight their poor execution as another major factor in the loss.
“We had a kicking game-plan, obviously some of the kicks didn’t land where we wanted them to. Our plan was to kick long into their twenty-two or contestables.
“Credit must go to the Griquas. They were really clinical; I said before the game they were a well-coached team. We did our homework on them, but tonight they came and handled the conditions way better than we did.”
The Sharks will search for improvement when they host Western Province on Saturday, while the Griquas welcome the Pumas to Tafel Lager Park on Friday.
