John Plumtree said the Sharks would take positives from their home loss on Saturday as they look to qualify for the Investec Champions Cup last 16 in Bordeaux next week.
The Sharks went down 20-8 at Kings Park against French giants Toulouse, who were well below their standard in hot and humid Durban conditions but were still too strong for the Durbanites.
Missing several key Springboks, the hosts struggled to contain the six-time champions but Plumtree saw enough from his young charges to believe they could turn things around against Bordeaux-Begles on Sunday.
“There are always positives,” the head coach was quoted post-match. “We play Bordeaux next week, a team that plays similar rugby to Toulouse in some ways.
“This is going to prep us well for it, but it might be a bit cooler where we’re going.”
Toulouse dominated the game with superior continuity play, offloading and relentless pressure, and Plumtree was impressed by their quality.
“You could just see they’re a classy outfit,” he said. “Just the way they applied pressure – not just through their defence and their set piece – their continuity play and attack was outstanding, their offloading and ability to keep the ball alive… That’s their game, that’s what makes them so dangerous.”
RECAP: Subpar Toulouse still too good for Sharks
The Sharks did improve in the second half, with Jurenzo Julius scoring a late try after some sustained pressure. Plumtree praised his players for their effort during this period.
“That’s certainly something we spoke about at half time; just to hold on to the ball for longer periods of time and start putting them under a bit of pressure,” he added.
“I think we did that, particularly in the last 25 to 30 minutes, and they started doing some defending.
“If we had a full-strength Sharks side, we would have made it look more interesting. I don’t want to discredit the players that we had out there, but it’s obviously disruptive to lose players every week with injury.
“And with the calendar season that we have, the squad has got to be quality. We’ve got six or seven key players that would make a massive difference to our team, and it stresses the squad.”
Still, Plumtree was quick to credit the players who took the field: “I don’t want to discredit the players that played out there [on Saturday]; I think everyone played their hearts out.
“But to do well in the URC and the Champions Cup, you need a quality squad.”
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