'It’s not the end of the world'

CURRIE CUP SPOTLIGHT: The Sharks are busy picking up the pieces after their embarrassing 13-37 defeat to Griquas in the opening round of this year's Currie Cup.

Sean Everitt's side were outplayed across the park and things will only get tougher this weekend when they face Western Province in Durban in Round Two.

“We can look at the players’ effort and there were some guys who really put their hands up, but we have to admit that Griquas totally outplayed us in every facet of the game," said Everitt in an interview on the Sharks website.

"They were better than us at line-out time, scored two great maul tries, they beat us on the ground, they put us under pressure at scrum time which forced us to give away penalties; so there wasn’t much that went our way."

Everitt knows that his team can't afford to slip up at home again in this year's shortened Currie Cup.

"Although we need to have a good hard look at ourselves, it’s not the end of the world.

"We got together last Friday, and we’ve been in this situation before. But it is a big wake-up call for us all and we all take responsibility for that. We will certainly work harder to put in a much better and improved performance against Western Province."

He added: "I haven’t been involved with this team for two years now, but I know that history has shown us that when the Sharks are down, they always bounce back. But we have to have a big bounce back against Western Province."

"We’re not down and out in this Currie Cup, but we need to come back on Monday and work really hard towards what we want to achieve."

Source: @TheSharksZA

Photo: Wayne Seagreen