In the Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash between the Vodacom Bulls and Cell C Sharks in Pretoria on Sunday, both sides enjoyed periods of dominance at various times of an intense derby game.
With momentum shifting between the two sides and the Cell C Sharks taking a 17-16 lead in the second half, the game was wide open with half an hour’s play remaining.
“Rugby is a game of momentum and confidence,” explained Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Neil Powell after the match.
“If you can’t hold on to that momentum or confidence when you have it, good teams – like the Bulls – will punish you, which they did in the second half.
“Game management and how we can keep our momentum is definitely something we will address. When they scored that one try, the guys seemed to drop their heads a bit. Then we conceded a second try and that felt like they’d taken our energy away. It’s something we need to address and be better at – to keep fighting for the full 80 minutes.”
From a physicality point of view, and that’s something most teams will assess against the Bulls, he felt that his team did not stand back.
“I think we did do well, we know coming to Loftus and playing the Bulls, it will be physical, and we prevented them from scoring maul tries, so much so that the last penalty they kicked for poles rather than to the corner.
“So the guys really stepped up, but it was just individual errors and not managing the game well enough that probably let us down.”
In summation, Powell explained that, “It was a game of missed opportunities and quite a few individual errors. We would have loved to be a lot more clinical with what we wanted to execute, I felt we could have put more pressure on the Bulls when we had opportunities in the first half. Unfortunately we weren’t clinical enough in the execution of our individual roles, and that showed.
“Also, not playing Ulster the previous week did stop our momentum and flow a bit. We couldn’t really find our momentum in the first half, but when we scored that try it looked like it had returned. Unfortunately we couldn’t hang on to that momentum.”
The URC now breaks for the autumn internationals, with the Cell C Sharks next back in action on Sunday 27 November, when they host Cardiff Rugby at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
During the next month, Powell explained that, “Most of the guys will be back for that game, but we’ll have a look at this Bulls game closely and see which are the areas we can improve on, both as a team but also individual skill sets, if we want to be better and beat teams away from home.”