Sharks need to tighten up

Sharks coach John Plumtree has called for his team to make a big step up in defence against the Brumbies this weekend, after a disappointing second-half display against the Waratahs last week.

The Sharks seemed poised to take their first win in Sydney in 12 years on Saturday, but grew visibly tired in the second half and allowed the Waratahs over the gain line with alarming regularity - which is something that Plumtree is determined to address.

He told the Sharks website: "We were disappointed. At 73 minutes into the game, we were three points up, but we got pretty tired from around the 55th to 60th minutes when we faded quite quickly. All of our defensive indicators and measurements showed a big drop off at that stage of the game.

"Every time the Waratahs put pressure on us from an attacking perspective, we couldn't stop their momentum. They got metres and when they were deep in our half, they looked like they were going to score every time," he added.

Plumtree said that he was not sure whether the long trip to Australia played a role in his side's lethargy in the second half, but added that they simply cannot afford to concede soft tries when they square up to Jake White's fit and disciplined Brumbies outfit this weekend.

He said: "We put a big emphasis on winning this match, we did all the right things during the week, but ultimately it wasn't good enough, we conceded two or three soft tries and that was really disappointing. Against the Brumbies you don’t want to be doing that.

"We were disappointed with the defensive effort on the weekend, it’s something we’re going to focus on now," the Sharks coach revealed.

For Plumtree, one of the more pleasing aspects of the clash against the Waratahs was the performance of the Sharks line-out, which stood up to the taller line-up from New South Wales well.

He said: We were really pleased with our line-out, the Waratahs have a much taller pack than us but we won all (12/12) of our own throw-ins. That’s the best it's been and we want to build on that."