Gary Gold
Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold signed a sigh of relief when his team managed to bounce back and score an unlikely bonus point at a flooded Kings Park against the Lions on Saturday.
Both the Sharks and the Lions would have been looking to hit back from disappointing losses at their respective home grounds last week after dominating the play.
However, it was the Sharks that seemed to play the torrential conditions better on the night with Pat Lambie managing the game incredibly well with his boot.
Coach Gold was visibly disappointed after the loss to the Cheetahs in the opening round, and although there were no big smiles on his face at the press conference on Saturday, he had to explain that it was relief more than anything to come away with five points.
“I think relief is the word,” Gold said afterwards.
“It’s certainly not a big celebration. It’s such early days now, you can throw all these cliches around and say you move on from the loss like last week.
“But you don’t really move on from a loss like that. It was disappointing and really it was our fault.
“We didn’t perform well enough, so it was weighing heavily on our minds.
“That’s the psychological challenge you have as a coach, it’s hopefully to give the players confidence that they’re good enough and they can come back from something like that.
When pressed further about the turn around in the Sharks’ play that led to them scoring a bonus point in condition that did not call for it, Gold admitted that it was a surprise.
“I didn’t ever imagine we would score four tries in those conditions,” Gold said.
“But I’m very grateful it did end up that way. I thought we managed the game well to be able to keep the momentum that got us to those opportunities that led to the tries.
“I was happy with the urgency and the general play all around. So I’m very proud of the performance.”
Gold was also grateful for the return of his ‘word-class’ captain Bismarck du Plessis who he believed made a huge impact on the game – both in his play and in his presence.
“Bismarck’s presence was a factor, there’s no doubt about it, because we know what a world-class player he is for so many reasons,” the Sharks boss added.
“last week it was a bit of a two-hit-swing, not only did Bismarck not play, but the fact that he had to withdraw so late in the day really affected the guys.
“He threw particularly well today [Saturday], he led the team well and obviously he stabilised our scrum.”
The Sharks may have welcomed back Du Plessis from a slight shoulder niggle that kept him out of the Cheetahs match, but Gold seemed most pleased that there were no further serious injury concerns coming out of the Lions match.
“No major injury concerns thank goodness – I would probably swap that for four points!
“I would take the win and no injuries over a bonus-point win with injuries,” he concluded.
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