Sharks need more moments of flash and less mediocrity

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