Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett suggests Griquas or the Boland Cavaliers could’ve put up a better fight against the All Blacks than a youthful Sharks outfit on Tuesday.
He was frank in his assessment of the 54-0 loss by JP Pietersen’s charges at Kings Park, the second match of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, describing the second-half display as “men against boys”.
“It was pretty disappointing, wasn’t it? It ended up being men against boys. The All Blacks were so much better than the Sharks in the second half,” Mallett said on the Talking Boks podcast.
“It was a very inexperienced and young Sharks team. This was obviously the team that was fit, or the best team available, but apart from the first 20 minutes of enthusiasm and some good play by the youngsters, it all fell away.
“If you consider how many tries the All Blacks missed, it could have been 30-0 at half-time and perhaps 70-0 by the end of the game.”
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Mallett recalled his experience with Boland in 1996, and when Griquas drew with a New Zealand side that went on to beat the Springboks.
“We had been playing together for about 18 months, the players were very motivated, and it made for a hell of an occasion.
“Unless you play the Stormers and Sharks with their best teams, we’ve seen in the Currie Cup that when sides from those four clubs send out drastically weakened teams, Griquas and Boland take care of them very easily. So perhaps that’s the answer.”
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Mallett questioned whether the provincial-tour concept of the series is worthwhile, with just over 14,000 turning up for the Durban clash after 47,130 attended last week’s opener between the Kiwis and Stormers at Cape Town Stadium.
He noted the financial disadvantages for the clubs, and suggested the fixtures could be given to the top Currie Cup teams instead.
“We have to take into consideration the fact that these are all games whose profits go to Saru,” Mallett said. “If all you’re doing is working for a third party … then you wonder whether the clubs have really got behind it.
“Why not give them [the fixtures] to the Pumas, Cheetahs, Boland and Griquas – the top four teams playing in the Currie Cup? They’re fit, they have their full squads and they’re going to play with a lot of passion.
“You could tell them: ‘You have the gate, you keep the gate’, because you don’t want an event that’s a damp squib. Apart from the weather [on Tuesday], which obviously made it a damp squib, the performance was really poor as well.”
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Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
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Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett suggests Griquas or the Boland Cavaliers could’ve put up a better fight against the All Blacks than a youthful Sharks outfit on Tuesday.
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