The Cell C Sharks were offering no excuses following their final round Currie Cup defeat to DHL Western Province, admitting that the selection policy to rest the regulars and to re-introduce a new group didn’t go according to plan.
Cell C Sharks Currie Cup head coach Joey Mongalo stuck his hand up after the game, saying, “I want to wear this squarely on myself because we have a good machine going and then I did a risk-reward thing to give guys a break and then put pressure on a group that had three training sessions, to ask them to come to Cape Town and take on the finalists of the URC without their Springboks.
“From a leadership-management aspect, I think there’s a lesson for me to learn.
“But we also have 15 guys back home who are sharp and getting ready for the semi-final. Then we have to fill the bench and a few guys put up their hands, but then some didn’t.”
Knowing that Western Province would be playing merely for pride, Mongalo admitted that they hadn’t expected a ‘romantic, good game of rugby’.
In summing up his overall feelings, he added: “We were expecting to see fight and we probably didn’t see enough of that. So, from a coaching side we got one or two things wrong, but one or two players will also be disappointed in their lack of fight.”
There was also a case to be made for limited preparation, Mongalo explaining that after three sessions, it would be impossible to expect a team to be technically perfect in their execution.
“The effort and physicality elements you can never make excuses for , never ever, and if we’re a group that’s named themselves ‘desperate men’, and there was nothing desperate, that’s an easy fix, it’s not a talent thing. But each guy must go look at himself and ask: ‘yes, we only had three sessions, but did I offer myself?’ I don’t think everyone can answer that.
“But we’ve been playing for 14 weeks now, without a breather and with no easy games and every week is a test match that you must win. We were the only team that could go into the weekend’s fixtures being able to rest players.”
After an eight game run of victories was brought to an end, despite a halt in momentum, the Cell C Sharks coach felt that it would not interrupt the team’s good form in the competition.
“The 15 guys we rested for this game aren’t scarred by the outcome, the last thing they remember is winning a game against the Lions, coming back from 14-nil down. This team has faced adversity plenty this season, we’ve become accustomed to it and in the past, it’s brought out the best in us.”
“I understand there will be people disappointed that we didn’t represent ourselves well, and that hurt a lot of people. I never want to coach a Cell C Sharks team that performs like that, but at the same time, we must acknowledge the thinking, and that was that we had a competitive advantage which allowed us to rest guys.”
Taking a look at the upcoming semi-final, against the Airlink Pumas at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Saturday, he admitted that there is a huge challenge that lies ahead.
“They’re the defending champions, coached by a tough, astute and competitive coach in Jimmy Stonehouse and they’re a good team.
“I’d say that they will be highly motivated, well-coached and looking for revenge. I don’t think they will lack any motivation.
“From our side, the team to play the Pumas will not be at all scarred, they only have the memories of their victory over the Lions. If anything, they watched this game and said ‘we’re going to fix this’. Monday is a new day, a new team, a new everything. This game won’t hurt us.”