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Sharks' defence coach Joey Mongalo was positive about the young team sent for Challenge Cup duty in France this past weekend.
The Springbok-laden Sharks outfit opted to send a youthful squad for their Challenge Cup knockout clash against Lyon on Sunday, where they came unstuck, losing 34-21. The French club used the conditions to their advantage and burst away to a lead they never relinquished. The result sees the defending champions bow out of the Challenge Cup.
Fully aware of the criticism ready to come his way, Mongalo pointed to the valuable experience the young Sharks players gained from their whistlestop tour to eastern France.
"We didn't get the desired result, and we really fought hard," Mongalo told the press.
"The average age of this team must be close to 20 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."
Mongalo added that the strong wind was to Lyon's advantage in the opening stanza, but he was impressed with how the Sharks held.
"Lyon played with the wind in the first half, it was quite a strong wind that gave them territory and possession," he said.
"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."
Out of the Champions and Challenge Cups, the Sharks can now focus solely on the United Rugby Championship, where they sit in fourth on the table. They tour North to Edinburgh and Ulster at the end of the month.
