Durban - It was mission accomplished for the Sharks in Treviso in terms of five United Rugby Championship points, but they return home today surely aware that they are going to have to play better than that if they are to make serious progress up the points table.
The bonus-point win moves the Sharks from tenth to eighth in the 16-team standings and the top half of the proceedings is where they want to be if they are to qualify for the Europan Champions Cup.
Also, one South African team is guaranteed a place in the Cup, even if they are not in the top eight, and to this end, the four SA teams are competing for the SA Shield, a competition within the competition with a very lucrative prize, and currently the Sharks top the SA Shield standings.
But if the Sharks are to finish as South Africa’s top team, they need to shine up on what was a gritty but unpolished performance against a Benetton B team, with most of the Italy squad that played against Ireland on Sunday being Benetton players.
Mostly the Sharks need to be more consistent over the 80 minutes because they certainly have their flash periods but then sink into mediocrity.
Coach Sean Everitt alluded to the same: “We are very happy with the five points on the road, we are delighted to be in the Top Eight, but in saying that it was not a perfect performance.
“We still have s lot of work to do — there were moments in which we were brilliant, we played some outstanding rugby but we did not have it all our own way in the set-piece and the Benetton defence put us under pressure.”
One issue with how the Sharks performed was highlighted strongly in the SuperSport studio by former Springbok coach Nick Mallett.
He was vociferous in his criticism of flyhalf Curwin Bosch, who he feels stands too deep to be effective on attack, and by standing still when he takes the ball and passes it on, he puts pressure on his centres.
The antithesis of how Bosch plays is the legendary Henry Honiball, who took the ball flat and at full pace and that meant his centres ran onto the ball at speed and thus had a much better chance of penetrating the defence.
Of course, Bosch is not Honiball, they are wired very differently, but while Bosch will never be a crash ball flyhalf, there is definitely scope for him to play closer to the advantage line, which would also bring the forwards into the game.
Mallett was not enamoured with how the Sharks played and felt they lacked structure with Bosch at 10 and that there was little synergy between backs and forwards.
The Sharks have a URC break this week but their Currie Cup team is away to the Pumas on Friday, and then the URC team has a strong run of home fixtures, starting on March 11 against the Scarlets, followed by visits from Zebre (March 19); Edinburgh (March 26); the Dragons (April 1); and the Lions (April 9).
The weekend’s results see the Sharks displace the Stormers as the top-ranked South African franchise on the log in eighth position with 26 points, while the Capetonians finished the weekend in ninth place with 24 points, followed closely by the Bulls in 10th place with 23 points. The Lions are further down the standings in 14th place with 12 points.
IOL Sport