Sharks' head coach John Plumtree says his players have to apply themselves and do better. Picture: Glyn KIRK, AFP
The Sharks arrived in Treviso with disgruntled coach John Plumtree thoroughly warming their ears despite his team sneaking a last-minute victory over the Dragons.
The Sharks were nowhere in the game in Newport because of unforced errors, poor discipline – that gifted the Welshmen a torrent of penalties – and, above all, a lack of energy.
The latter has miffed Plumtree the most, and while he will bank the 33-30 win, he will crack the whip this week because his team had to use a get-out-jail free card to nick the points.
The Sharks are exactly mid-table in eighth on six log points thanks to a bonus-point loss to Connacht and five points from Saturday night.
Benetton are bottom of the table after a very tough start to the tournament that saw them play former champions Leinster and current champions Glasgow Warriors.
The north-eastern Italian team drew their third game, against the Scarlets.
“I wasn’t happy with the performance,” Plumtree said soon after centre Francois Venter had scored under the crossbar in the 85th minute and after a last-gasp, 20-phase attack.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do around our game, not just from a physical point of view, but also from an emotional point of view,” the disappointed coach said of his team’s lethargic performance.
The Sharks were 22-7 down as halftime approached and did well to nail a try as the hooter went. At 22-12, that gave them hope of a second-half comeback but they did not kick on.
It was more a case of them hanging in and trying to stay in touch with a Dragons side that looked like comfortable winners.
“I thought we were pretty passive tonight and lacked urgency,” Plumtree said. “We’ve got stuff to fix in that space. We didn’t execute our plan.
The Sharks’ tries came from Emmanuel Tshituka, Jordan Hendrikse, Jurenzo Julius, Ethan Hooker, and Venter, with Siya Masuku’s conversions proving crucial. Despite their courage at the end, Plumtree was annoyed at the ill-discipline, which included two yellow cards, that made it so hard for the team to build momentum.
“Our discipline was poor, and we allowed them to apply scoreboard pressure, so it’s not good,” he said.
“I think the only positive for me was that we managed to stay in the contest the whole way.
“We found some moments where we were able to score a try and stay in the game, and we were pretty lucky at the end just to get the win.”
The Sharks will hope a change of scenery and warmer conditions in Italy will help them find their spark.
Plumtree concluded: “We will take the win, but that is all it is. We need to be a lot better.”
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