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“I thought we played some pretty positive rugby out there but committed a few second half errors which cost us. With a lost lineout or turnover, Griquas managed to punish us while our defense was unstructured.”
The Sharks coach felt that there possibly wasn't a big enough buffer in the scoreline at the break, and playing into a howling wind in the second half was always going to be a disadvantage for his team. “There was a strong wind left to right, but in the final analysis, it wasn't the wind that was our demise, it was more about crucial turnovers.
“I think we got tired for a 15 minute period where they turned us over at the breakdown as well. It was more about some of our second half errors that Griquas were able to capitalise on.”
Plumtree added that he was happy with some of his team's play. “I thought we played some great rugby in patches,” he said. “Griquas only scored one try from structured play, the others came from our mistakes where we turned over crucial ball. We had to scramble in defense and got tired.”
With the injuries to big ball-carriers like Willem Alberts and Jean Deysel, Plumtree was happy with the contribution made by Michael Rhodes. “He played well but I think what did happen in the second half was that the ball-carriers got tired and stopped carrying across the advantage line and that was disappointing.”
All week the talk – from all camps – was how competitive Griquas are going to be this season and the predictions that they would give The Sharks a good run for their money were spot on.
“Griquas are very confident playing at home. When we arrived there was lots of talk of them being good enough and we knew we were in for a real challenge. It's great that we took a couple of log points away from home because Griquas are a side who are going to roll over some big teams. I'm proud of the boys but we just didn't play for 80 minutes and we can't afford dips in concentration like that. It's something I've spoken to the leaders in the team about, we need to make sure that doesn't happen again.”
Injury-wise, The Sharks came out of the game without any major problems. “We're not in bad shape,” confirmed the coach. “Craig Burden (pictured) took a bit of a groin strain, Steve Meyer took a bit of a knock but both will hopefully be all right for the weekend.”
The Sharks play host to the Blue Bulls at The Absa Stadium Durban on Saturday afternoon (a full programme of rugby action with the Under 21s and Under 19s in action in the earlier matches) and have another big contest on their hands.
“We need to play for 80 minutes, we didn't and that cost us the game against Griquas. The Bulls will come to Durban fairly determined; as will we be because we can't afford to lose any home games.
“This weekend is a vital game early in the competition.”
