Siya Kolisi’s Sharks suffered their first home defeat of the season as Jacques Nienaber’s Leinster outmuscled the Durban outfit ten points to seven.
The fixture had all the ingredients to be a classic, but its magnetism subsided to twenty-four handling errors that stunted the game’s flow, preventing either side from producing highlight moments. It’s stop-start nature made watching tedious.
Sharks, down 10-7 in the 79th minute, were awarded a penalty within kicking distance. Captain Kolisi had an ultimatum: kick for three to draw or go for the corner to claim victory—he opted for the latter, and Leinster walked away with the win.
The decision to go for glory in unforgiving conditions has caused public scrutiny over the Springbok’s decision-making. It’s hard to judge what Rassie Erasmus would’ve done, but his progressive nature is favourable to Kolisi’s call. You can’t win them all.
Plumtree post-conference
“I don’t like losing so I probably would’ve preferred to go for the posts, but it was Siya’s [Kolisi] decision on the field; he wanted to go for four points [for a win],” Plumtree revealed
“It cost us one point, Kolisi not doing it, but if we scored then there would be a different conversation.
“Frustrating that we got held up, the Irish are masters at stuffing your ball up in those types of moments. It’s feeling the moment, you know, and often the players feel different out on the park than what we feel in the coaches’ box. So, they felt like they could do it,” the Sharks coach added.
“Bongi scored off the back of a maul earlier, that would’ve still been on Siya Kolisi’s mind as well. We just didn’t execute it.”
“This game was a battle up front, a battle of two aggressive defences. Both sides made a lot of mistakes, but again, it just comes down to them taking one more opportunity on us.”
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