Sharks coach John Plumtree has cracked the whip over his underperforming charges that limped to an unimpressive win over Scarlets on Saturday.
The Sharks’ final United Rugby Championship clash before the playoffs was a dour affair, with handling errors and blunt attacks aplenty. But as Durban fans have become accustomed to, the Sharks got the job done, albeit with an unflattering 12-3 scoreline.
The result secured the Sharks third place on the URC table, but the performance drew the ire of Plumtree.
“It wasn’t much of a game of rugby, to be honest,” quipped the Kiwi coach.
“We have to be better than that. The players are frustrated too. There were a few issues around our attack tonight. We mucked up our launches, just through inaccuracies. It looked to me that we were trying very hard, but there was just one more mistake. We just couldn’t get anything right. It wasn’t a good performance from us, and we have to really look at the reasons why and get better.
“We’re lacking accuracy in our game. We’re training really hard and we’re looking really good and we’re putting all those skills under pressure in training, but it’s about transferring it to the game and we’re not quite nailing that. I’ve got a lot experienced players in my team and they don’t have to be told that.
“Next time we run out here it will be knockout rugby, and we’ll have to play much better if we want to carry on in the tournament. Because from now on, the stakes go up.”
The Sharks host former champions Munster in Durban in the quarterfinals on 31 May.
