Sharks coach on WP hammering: It won't hurt us

The Sharks were hopelessly outplayed in Cape Town on a sunny Saturday afternoon, only securing what would be the definition of a consolation try via Marnus Potgieter in the 82nd minute.

But Mongalo cut a positive figure after the loss because he sacrificed a battle to win the war. The Sharks may have surrendered their table-topping position to the Cheetahs, but still secured a home semifinal. Added to that, with Mongalo having left a large part of his first-choice XV back in Durban, they will be fighting fresh when they face the Pumas on 17 June.

"It's a new day, a new team, everything... this won't hurt us," Mongalo told rugby365.com.

"We've been playing for 14 weeks straight without a breather with no easy games. We are probably the only team that went into today [Saturday], that could rest players.

"So if you've got that competitive advantage and you don't use it, then I've got to look at myself and I'm saying, 'how am I thinking about this thing?' I want to be a leader that is not monotonous and say the same stuff. I want to back my gut and my understanding about the game.

"We've got fifteen guys back home who are sharp and getting ready for the semifinal and who are not scarred by this."

However, Mongalo did admit he expected more of a fight from his charges.

"We weren't expecting it to be like a romantic good game rugby," he added.

"We were expecting to see fight and we probably didn't see enough of that. This team has faced adversity plenty of times before so it's not like we're looking at each other wondering what has happened. It was impossible for me to expect them to be sharp after three training sessions. But one-on-one tackles, a carry, an effort to catch-up, so the effort part and physicality - you can never make an excuse for that, never ever."