Defence coach Joey Mongalo praised a young Sharks team after their 34-21 Challenge Cup round-of-16 defeat to Lyon at Matmut Stadium on Sunday.
With head coach John Plumtree resting his first-choice players ahead of a two-match Vodacom URC tour, a second-string side was tasked with the defence of the European title the Sharks won last season.
While the visitors took an early 7-0 lead, they trailed 27-7 at half time before finishing the match with a two-try flourish.
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“Lyon played with quite a strong wind in the first half that gave them territory and possession,” Mongalo said on Monday. “But in the first 10 minutes of the game I thought we showed the plan we wanted to play and it was really well executed, so I was really proud of the boys for getting together for three days and executing a plan so well in the first 10, 15 minutes.
“But then the next 20 minutes, I thought we just lost a bit of the territory battle. We defended quite well and forced them to kick on to us, but we weren’t able to handle the ball so they got a lot of bounce balls that gave them 22m entries. And they were quite clinical when they got into our 22 and we could definitely have been better defensively.”
Mongalo believed the Sharks could have pushed for victory had they conceded one try less in the first half and handled the ball better in the third quarter.
“With a strong wind [behind us in the second half] we could definitely have made an impact,” he added. “You saw how we were in the first 20 minutes of the second half, with all the territory and possession. We had one or two early opportunities that if we had finished, we could have made a shout of it.”
Mongalo said the experience of playing in France was not without reward, despite the result.
“Firstly, we wanted people watching us to see that we had a clear plan and we stuck to the plan irrespective of the scoreboard. Secondly, we wanted them to see that we fought for each other and how much we care about each other, the badge and the province. I thought we did those two things pretty decently, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted.
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“I think the average age of this team is 20, 21 or 22, so for these guys to come out here … everyone who understands rugby knows that rugby in France is never easy, you don’t get many calls going your way either, so for them to stay in the fight until the end was very impressive.”
The Sharks now take a week’s break, before playing Edinburgh and Ulster on a two-match URC tour.
Photo: @SharksRugby/X
