2017-05-16 14:29

Durban – Following the hurt of their upset loss to the Kings on the weekend, the Sharks will be looking to make amends on Saturday when they take on the Sunwolves in Singapore.

Kick-off is at 13:55 SA time.

Loose forward Philip van der Walt says the team is very unhappy with the way they played in their 35-32 loss to the Kings, and he vows that there is serious intent in the team ahead of the clash with the Sunwolves.

“It’s obvious that we are very disappointed with the outcome of the game and also with our performance,” he told the Sharks website.

“There were harsh words afterwards; something has to be said after a performance like the one we had. We’re all hurting and we all feel bad about what happened, but we know we have to bounce back again this weekend.”

Having a short turnaround – the Sharks flew to Singapore on Monday – meant limited opportunity to discuss the Kings match.

“We identified that the way we exited our half of the field wasn’t accurate enough and that put us under pressure,” said Van der Walt.

“We also didn’t take our opportunities well, we had a couple of drives in their half that didn’t lead to tries. So there are individual errors we need to cut down on and we also need to exit better after we have just scored points.”

The Sharks still have a nine point lead over the chasing Jaguares in Africa Conference 2, and Van der Walt agrees that there’s no need to show anxiety at this stage.

“The last thing we want to do is panic. You don’t become a bad team after one game, although we aren’t hiding from the fact that it was a bad performance,” he said.

“Fortunately on the log, it doesn’t make a big difference, but it does make a difference to how we approach the next game as well as our support. We still have our own goals and standards that we set for ourselves – we failed in that regard – it was a bad weekend for us.”