Exclusive: Peer review hurts, Sharks coach Mongalo admits, after horror loss to Lions

A week is a long time in rugby and after the horror hammering last week at Ellis Park, the Sharks could be lifting the SA Shield at Kings Park on Saturday, if they beat the self-same Lions.

That is the philosophy of Sharks defence coach Joey Mongalo in the wake of the Sharks’ shock 38-14 defeat to the Lions last week and in the build up to the re-match in Durban.

“On Monday, we had frank and honest conversations and the long and the short of it is that you can’t become terrible rugby players in the 14 days between beating the Bulls at Loftus with 13 men and the Lions match,” said Mongalo, the highly-rated coach who has had spells at the Lions and the Bulls.

“That performance at Ellis Park doesn’t reflect the hard work we have put in over the last year or so. We have come a long way and won’t let a performance like that define us,” the 40-year-old continued.

“At the same time, we can’t normalise that performance and we have been racking our brains to understand what went wrong in our preparation. Ultimately, we have found that there is no excuse.

“We can’t blame losing a training day to the heavy rains in Durban or to having a bye after the Bulls game. The bottom line is that we were not in the same space as we were before playing the Bulls.”

Mongalo, a Junior Springbok in his days as a player, says the Sharks are hurting and the players have taken ownership of the unacceptable display.

“We are very fortunate in that these guys have a lot of pride. They were hurt by what we showed them on Monday,” he said. “It is one thing knowing you did not play so well, it is another being shown how bad it was in front of your peers.

“Everyone knows we have great leaders in Siya Kolisi and Bongi Mbonambi but we have emerging leaders in the likes of Ethan Hooker and Phepsi Buthelezi,” Mongalo revealed. “They are not blaming the plan — they are saying that they did not represent themselves, the team and our province as well as they should have. Kudos to the players for owning it.”

Mongalo says the green grass of home will help the players right the listing ship.

“It has been two months since we played a home game and it is massively good to be back. It is good to sleep in your own bed before a game and play in front of fans that love you.

"The supporters in Durban are the most loyal I have encountered. They just keep coming back and we want to put up a performance they can be proud of.

“If we get over the line we will be the SA Conference winners just a week after a horrible loss. So there is a lot to play for.

“This is where (head coach) John Plumtree shows his wisdom. He is 20 years older than me and he says that emotionally, you must treat a loss and a win in the same way,” Mongalo explained.

“If you are taken up too high by a good win and very disappointed when you lose, you will be emotionally fragile and it can result in inconsistent performances.

“We don’t want that. We want to be consistent. You want to win every game but when you do lose, you want to be proud of your performance even if you lost on the scoreboard. You want to be satisfied that you did everything in your power to win.”