Sharks coach Robert du Preez says his side must move on from their loss to Western Province at Kings Park on Saturday.
The defeat ended the Sharks’ 10-match winning streak that had seen them secure top spot on the Currie Cup log.
‘We’ve put in a lot of hard work,’ said Du Preez. ‘This team has worked incredibly hard.
‘The whole squad has worked hard and we are just going to have to regroup on Monday. This is a game that we need to forget and move on. We got a semi-final [against the Blue Bulls] to win.’
While WP had to win the match to book a home semi-final, it was effectively a dead rubber for the Sharks, who lacked their usual intensity.
‘The first half, although we were up on the scoreboard [13-3], we were just going through the motions,’ said Du Preez.
‘That obviously resulted in going into the second half and just thinking we can still go through the motions and then they started playing proper rugby and they put us under a lot of pressure.
‘We have no excuses. You can’t take any game for granted and just think that you can pitch up and just go through the motions. That is the bottom line.’
Du Preez praised his son Robert Jnr, who scored 21 points in the match for WP, via two tries, four conversions and a penalty. The 24-year-old flyhalf will move to Durban at the end of the season.
‘He played really well. He likes to do that when he plays against his father, but credit to Western Province. In the end, they were a lot hungrier for this win.’
Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
