Sharks coach Everitt takes positives from humbling URC defeat to Leinster

Sharks coach Sean Everitt was left to rue their individual mistakes in their 54-34 United Rugby Championship (URC) defeat to Leinster at RDS Arena in Dublin on Saturday night.

The match went to the break evenly poised with Leinster enjoying a 21-20 advantage after the two teams scored three tries each but the home side turned on the heat in the second half and earned a win that took them to the top of the URC standings.

Leinster’s first-half tries were scored by Jason Jenkins and a brace by Garry Ringrose while the Sharks crossed the line from the efforts of Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Thaakir Abrahams.

Leinster scored five more tries after the break from Andrew Porter, Robbie Henshaw, Rob Russell, Jonny Sexton and John Mckee.

“The boys tried very hard, the effort was there and the energy that they displayed on the field to fight until the end was really good,” Everitt said after the Sharks' first loss of the season.

While he thought Leinster were impressive as a team, Everitt made special mention of their veteran kicker Sexton who ended his shift with an impressive 17 points from a try and seven conversions.

“Unfortunately individual errors cost us dearly this evening. We were up against a class outfit. Johnny Sexton was world-class in the second half where he put us under huge pressure.”

Everitt said among positives to draw from the defeat were that the Durban team managed to score five tries, with Springbok winger Fassi grabbing a brace, and that the Sharks scored more than 30 points against Leinster away from home.

“We were able to score five really good tries, which we are really happy with. There were aspects of the game that we have improved on since we played the Dragons and Zebre.

“Our goal on this tour was to walk away with ten points and we have achieved that. We are not happy conceding 50 points but at the same time not many teams have scored 30 against Leinster, let alone five tries.

“There are a lot of positives to take out of this game. We will just continue to grow with this young group we have.”

The Sharks dropped to seventh spot on the standings with one loss from three outings and will look to return to winning ways against Glasgow Warriors in Durban on Saturday.

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