The Sharks joined the Lions on the EPCR Challenge Cup sidelines after losing 34-21 to Lyon on Sunday but defence coach Joey Mongalo saw positives from the youngsters sent to France.
The Sharks started and ended the match with a bang — they scored a try a few minutes into the game and two more at the death — but in between Lyon ruled the roost.
“Lyon played with quite a strong wind in the first half which gave them territory and possession,” Mongalo explained.
“But in the first 10 minutes of the game I thought we showed the plan we wanted to play and it was well executed. I was proud of the boys for getting together for three days and executing a plan so well in the first 15 minutes or so.
“But then the next 20, we lost the territory battle. We defended quite well and forced them to kick on to us, but we weren’t able to handle the ball so they got a lot of bounce balls that gave them 22m entries. They were clinical when they got into our 22 and we could definitely have been better defensively.”
The French side scored 27 points without reply in the middle part of the match, and that was too many points for the strong-finishing Sharks to make up.
“With a strong wind behind us after half-time, we could definitely have made an impact,” Mongalo said.
“You saw how we were in the first 20 minutes of the second half, with all the territory and possession. We had early opportunities that if we had finished, we could have made a shout of it.”
But Mongalo was upbeat about the performance, despite the result.
“Firstly, we wanted people to see that we had a clear plan and stuck to it irrespective of the scoreboard. Secondly, we wanted them to see that we fought for each other and how much we care about each other, the badge and the province. I thought we did those two things pretty decently, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted.”
With the Sharks resting a team of first-choice players, this away fixture was always about the opportunity for youngsters to put up their hands. Some did, some didn’t, but overall Mongalo feels they will be better off for it.
“The average age of this team is 20, 21 or 22, so for these guys to come out here to southern France, where everyone who understands rugby knows that it is never easy, you don’t get many calls going your way either, so for them to stay in the fight until the end was impressive.”
The Sharks have no match this week and the focus on their away tour to the UK will intensify — next week they start in Edinburgh before moving to Belfast to play Ulster.