Sharks coach John Plumtree reflects on tough URC opener

There's no doubting just how much the players have had to give of themselves in the last three weeks as they closed out a successful Carling Currie Cup campaign before long haul travel to Ireland to start the URC tournament against one of the top sides.

"We started pretty scratchily, but once we got our game going, we were pretty good," Plumtree told the Sharks' website.

After conceding an early try, Plumtree's charges scored 27 points without reply to build up a sizable 20-point lead by half-time. This demonstrated the team's ability and firepower. But it was the second half that underlined just how fatiguing a combination of the 100-minute Carling Currie Cup semi-final, the final and then intercontinental travel, with little opportunity to train in the lead-up to the tournament opener.

"We did some good stuff and built a nice half-time lead, but in the second half, we really looked low on energy and got quite slow," he added.

"We got cleaned out at the breakdown, the physicality wasn't quite there."

With local knowledge of their home, 5G pitch, the Irish had a mountain of work ahead of them, but against a tiring Sharks side, they had enough in the bank to fight back and claim victory.

"Connacht got their tails up, they probably played a little differently in the second half, they kicked over the top of us and tried to come through us," Plumtree continued. "The fact that we couldn't stop their maul tries was a big part of the game."

The Sharks coach admitted that a result like this is a big learning opportunity, although there are certain factors that were outside of their control, like playing in Ireland in their first game and competing in the Currie Cup knock-out stages so close to the URC.

"We have to take the lessons out of it," he admitted.

"In this part of the world, if we don't get our breakdown right, and if we don't get our set-piece right, then we're going to struggle.

"So we'll learn from all of that and look forward to the next game."

The Sharks now travel to Newport in Wales to take on the Dragons who have lost their opening two matches and, like the Hollywoodbets Sharks, will feel they have a point to prove.

The two teams meet at the 8700 capacity Rodney Parade Stadium on Saturday, kick-off scheduled for 6.15pm.