Champions Cup: Neil Powell delighted with improved performance from Sharks

Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell praised the improved performance from his team in their 39-31 Champions Cup victory against Harlequins in Durban on Saturday.

The Sharks came into the fixture against the Premiership outfit on the back of some indifferent performances in the United Rugby Championship, including a 35-0 defeat against Cardiff which resulted in the sacking of head coach Sean Everitt.

Following that, they were made to work hard for a 25-10 win over the Ospreys.

Better display

Powell was delighted that his side showed considerable improvement against Harlequins, despite losing Springboks Bongi Mbonambi and Ox Nche to respective yellow and red cards during the game’s final quarter.

Although they were under immense pressure from their visitors, the Sharks maintained their composure and eventually sealed a 39-31 win courtesy of a Boeta Chamberlain try in the 78th minute.

Powell was understandably delighted with the result and highlighted the importance of home victories in the Champions Cup.

“Only having four games in your pool [means] it’s important to get the positive results, especially in your home games. If you slip up here, it will be tough to get into the knock-out stages,” he told Sport24.

“The positive result was really important, and I think performance-wise, it was good, a massive step up from last week against Ospreys. Again I believe that if the performance is good, the result will come by itself.”

The former South Africa Sevens coach admitted that the Sharks put themselves under pressure following Nche and Mbonambi’s cards and said they must improve on their discipline.

Tense finish

“For me, we controlled the game nicely in the first half. Unfortunately, that yellow and red card in the second half put us a bit under pressure,” he explained.

“Even in the first half sometimes, not being as disciplined as we would like to be put us under pressure, so hopefully, we can be more disciplined when we get into the next game against Bordeaux.”

The Sharks are set to play Bordeaux-Begles at Stade Chaban-Delmas on Friday evening.

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