REACTION: Despite their 21-34 Challenge Cup defeat to Lyon, Sharks defence coach Joe Mongalo put the result into perspective.
The Sharks fell out of the Challenge Cup race on Saturday when a second-string outfit came up short against Lyon at the Matmut Stadium de Gerland.
Mongalo felt that his side could’ve handled the conditions better and fronted up stronger defensively.
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“Lyon played with the wind in the first half. It was quite a strong wind that gave them territory and possession.
“The first 10 minutes of the game showed the plan that we wanted to play. It was very well executed.
“I was very proud of the boys for getting together for three days and executing the plan so well for that first 10 to 15 minutes.
“But the next 20 minutes, we lost the territory battle a bit.
“We defended quite well and forced them to kick onto us. When they kicked onto us, we weren’t able to handle the ball.
“They got a lot of bounce balls that gave them 22 metre entries, and they were quite clinical when they got into our 22 metre area.
“We definitely could’ve been better defensively.”
Despite falling out of the race to defend their Challenge Cup title, Mongalo remained proud of his young troops that did duty in tough circumstances.
“We didn’t get the desired result, and we really fought hard,” Mongalo said.
“The average age of this team must be close to 20 [years] or just about 22-years old.
“For these guys to come out here in France, anybody who understands the game knows that rugby in France away from home is never easy.
“You don’t get many calls going your way either. For them to stay in the fight that long and fight until the very end was impressive.”
