JP Pietersen backs Sharks to maintain form in the Challenge Cup

After a tough start to the season, which resulted in the Sharks replacing John Plumtree as head coach with Pietersen, the Durban outfit has bounced back well and moved into contention for an outside shot of making the URC playoffs.

Their two most recent fixtures have been particularly impressive, with a 45-0 thrashing of Munster being followed up by a gutsy 21-15 victory over a strong Cardiff outfit last time out.

"These are the standards we strive to. We came off a high of last week [against Munster] and then came up against a quality side in Cardiff where we wanted to back up that consistency," Pietersen said.

"I congratulated the boys afterwards for staying in the fight. Normally, we would have given up and let the opposition in for easy tries. But the boys were courageous and that shows growth.

"Andre Esterhuizen is leading well as a captain and you have a strong leadership group around him, including Ethan Hooker and Nick Hatton, as well as Vincent Tshituka. Emile van Heerden was huge, keeping the forwards composed."

Pietersen acknowledged that their change in fortunes has been driven by their ability to impact the game much earlier than they were doing in the start of the campaign.

"What I'm most pleased about is how we started the game, starting fast," he said.

"But Cardiff, being the quality side they are, came back at us, putting us under massive pressure and scoring two quick tries.

"We felt in the coaches' box that we needed to swing momentum back in our favour and that's why we sent the replacement front row on just before half time to give us the edge.

"Wow, it came off and it was good to finish the half 21-12 up, which gave us lots of confidence going into the second half."

"We took control of the game in the set-piece. We scrummed well and scrummed for penalties, as well as mauling them well. In the first half when we got into their 22, we scored tries, but we couldn't convert in the second half which wasn't what we wanted.

"But we were a bit sloppy in the territory and kicking game; we could have been better and that's a good learning experience for us as we hit the road."

Both sides struggled under the high ball at Kings Park and Pietersen revealed conditions were a lot tougher than they may have seemed on television.

"Although you can't see the humid conditions on TV, the ball was very slippery," he explained.

"The conditions were extremely difficult, people were probably asking why we weren't passing and catching the ball, but it was like a bar of soap, so I thought we did well to score three tries in those conditions.

"In the second half we were one pass away from scoring each time, but you also need to give the opposition credit, they defended well and stayed in the fight."

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