Charl McLeod believes that the Sharks are on the right track

Sharks scrumhalf Charl McLeod is stoic in his approach to their play-off game against the Highlanders, it is finals rugby and nothing else matters.

The Sharks started the 2014 campaign ruthlessly, dispatching teams in a clinical matter week in and week out. However, recently there has been notable downward-turn in the Sharks performace.

A loss to the Highlanders in Round 11 and two poor performances on the bounce against the Stormers and Cheetahs seem to take the teeth out of the Costal team.

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Their most recent victory against the Stormers in Cape Town on the weekend is the catalyst that McLeod believes has gotten the Sharks back to their match-winning best.

“It was a big confidence booster for us, just to see that what we’ve been doing all year is successful and we went back to that,” the scrumhalf said.

“Solid defence, forwards working hard, better kicking game, better kick-chase game, that’s what got us the rewards.”

McLeod went on to try and explain his teams faltering which has got them into a position where they have to deal with this play-off game.

“We’ve been playing knock-out rugby from Round one, but we went away from that a bit and that’s why I think we fell short,” he continued.

“We put in a solid performance on the weekend now we’re back to playing winning rugby and so I think it’s a good way to kick off this knockout phase.”

The fact that the Highlanders upset the Sharks in Durban poises an interesting conundrum for the teams – who claims the advantage from that game?

The Highlanders will clearly be riding high, knowing it is possible to defeat the Sharks at home.

On the otherhand, the Sharks will be the furthest thing from complacent, and with a master tactician like Jake White at the helm, they will be clear on the Highlanders strengths – and how to counter them.

“They’re a very difficult team to play against, they showed that when we met them in Durban earlier in the season,” McLeod said of his upcoming New Zealand opposition.”

“I think they will take confidence out of that performance.”

“We know how dangerous they can be if our kicking game is off and our defence is not on song, so those are two areas we will be working hard on in training this week.”

When asked about his imminent departure to French club Grenoble and the emotions of a final home game, McLeod maintained his Stoicism and single-mindedness.

“There is no emotion around personal stuff, it’s all about finals rugby for us.”

“We have three games to win the competition so we’re taking all emotion out of it, it’s all about the team and the union.”

“It’s something we haven’t achieved before so that’s all we’re focused on.”