The following article contains some very interesting comments from Jake White:-
"Sharks boss Jake White admitted that his table-topping side got caught out by the Highlanders who became the first team to win at Kings Park this season.
The visitors outscored the Sharks by four tries to nil to wrap up a valuable bonus-point win at the start of their tour, whilst the Sharks now head overseas with plenty to think about.
White admitted that his side was outplayed and outsmarted by the team from Dunedin who took advantage of a sluggish performance from their hosts who battled to get any momentum going.
"We weren't at our best and they played really well against us - take nothing away from this performance by the Highlanders," White said.
"Sometimes when we needed to kick we ran, and sometimes when we needed to run we kicked."
The competition leaders missed a golden chance to consolidate their number one position on the overall standings against one of the worst New Zealand teams, going down 34-18, with the visitors dominating against their below-par hosts.
"It was tough. They bossed at the breakdown, they didn't allow us rhythm, they didn't kick out, they didn't give us any set-piece ball, the handling wasn't good."
Richard Buckman, Aaron Smith and Shane Christie all scored tries in the opening 40 minutes, before Malakai Fekitoa's superb solo second-half score wrapped up a bonus-point win.
Despite the Otago outfit dominating, the Sharks were kept in the game by the boot of rookie flyhalf Tim Swiel, who kicked six penalties in total, right until the final 12 minutes.
"At 24-18 we still had opportunities," White said.
"We dropped an overlap on the left when it was three on one and we dropped one on the right hand side. We weren't as good as we should have been."
In their defence, the coastal side were dealt a blow before kick-off when both captain Bismarck du Plessis and Jean Deysel were ruled out through injury. Replacements Kyle Cooper and Ettienne Oosthuizen as well as S'bura Sithole and Jannie du Plessis all appeared to pick up knocks during the game.
"It's massive when you lose your captain and you lose the guy who sets up your whole scrum," White said.
"But what comes out of that is you start to realise how important certain players are and players who do get an opportunity need to be ready when they get called upon.
"I'm not saying anyone wasn't, but it gives us an opportunity in the next couple of rounds to make sure that we've got the right combinations going forward."
The result came at a critical time for the Sharks - in their final home match before they travel to Australia and New Zealand to face the Rebels, Brumbies, Crusaders and Blues.
"It's not an ideal way to set off on tour, but it's highly unlikely teams are going to be unbeaten throughout the competition," White, whose side are now just a point clear at the summit, said.
"You've seen how tough this competition is and people have realised that no matter who you're play against, it's tough to win.
"When you win you take all the pleasantries and accolades that go with it but when you lose, you've got to dust yourself and get up."
Conclusions
I am beginning to feel that deficiencies which were not dealt with because of winning of games, will get a high priority from White. These include -
* deficiencies in ball skills;* deficiencies in reading of the game and decision making; and* speed deficiency of certain players.
White for the first time refers to combinations -"we've got the right combinations going forward" - and here a key issue is in the backline. It is evident that the present center combination is deficient and that Steyn is a square peg in a round hole not producing the goods. Most cases of poor decision making happens with him involved. I think White may move him to full back and adjust the backline accordingly.
The other issue to be addressed is ball skills of players and here there is a massive problem. I listed the number of ball possession handovers by players and those together with penalties given away was really a horror story. Something needs to be done about those and about passing skills. It often enough is not the mistake of the recipient to mess up balls - but the quality of the passes that is deficient.
The real speed deficiencies are those of Pietersen, Steyn and Alberts. They are too slow in speed and thinking ability to play in the positions they were selected for. Also Coetzee showed serious deficiencies in decisionmaking and have lost the ability to pass balls to other players 0 his crashballing is totally ineffective and counter-productive.
