‘We take it on the chin’: Sharks coach Powell after hammering by Stormers

As he surveyed the wreckage of their 46-19 United Rugby Championship (URC) hammering by the Stormers at Kings Park on Saturday, Sharks coach Neil Powell said they take the disappointment on the chin.

The Stormers scored six tries through Herschel Jantjies, Ruben van Heerden, Joseph Dweba, Seabelo Senatla, Suleiman Hartzenberg and Manie Libbok as they dominated the game to maintain the second spot on the standings.

The Sharks only managed three tries, from Dan Jooste and a brace by Gerbrandt Grobler, in a disappointing performance that Powell admitted lacked conviction.

“Definitely this was not a good performance from us, maybe we were still locked in the game of last week’s win over Edinburgh away from home,” he said.

“We didn’t pitch up for this one and, for me, it is a huge disappointment from our mental approach side more than anything else.”

Powell urged his players to take lessons from the heavy defeat at home.

“A good lesson for us, we must take it on the chin, no excuses and we have to learn from our mistakes. We knew that the Stormers are a team that would punish you if you made mistakes and that’s exactly what they did. They capitalised on our mistakes.

“Again, it was our mental preparations coming into this game. I don’t know if we thought, after the Edinburgh game, this would be an easy game playing the Stormers at home.

“We are obviously disappointed as the coaching staff, we will look at ourselves first and then ask the questions of the team to find out what we could have done better as a team.

“It was just not a good enough performance as a team,” said Powell while asking for consistency.

“We can’t get into the situation where we play so well and show character and the next one there is nothing of that. We almost we undid all the good things we did in that game against Edinburgh.

“We will definitely have a hard look at ourselves. I do think there is a bit of inconsistency over the last two games.

“It is a difficult thing to get consistency right every time but then again there are no excuses. If you want to be a champion team, you have to get up every single time to show you are mentally prepared for whatever the opposition brings.”

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