{"id":47764,"date":"2026-01-18T07:54:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T07:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=47764"},"modified":"2026-01-18T07:54:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T07:54:50","slug":"jp-pietersen-lessons-learned-sharks-fall-challenge-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/01\/18\/jp-pietersen-lessons-learned-sharks-fall-challenge-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Pietersen: Lessons learned as Sharks fall into Challenge Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>The Sharks finished the pool stage in fifth position with two wins and two defeats. They drop into the Challenge Cup round of 16, to be played in April.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Sharks interim coach JP Pietersen said his experience in the Champions Cup this year had highlighted the importance of winning away and having a full squad of skilled players when balancing two tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>The Sharks won their final pool game 50-12 against Clermont at Kings Park on Saturday to finish the stage with two wins and two losses. Though they were fourth in the pool for a few hours, Toulouse\u2019s emphatic 77-7 victory over Sale in France meant they dropped to fifth place.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of proceeding to the Champions Cup play-offs, the Sharks will now drop into the second-tier Challenge Cup round of 16, to be played in April.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-sharks-gave-themselves-a-chance\">Sharks gave themselves a chance<\/h2>\n<p>Pietersen addressed media while waiting for the Toulouse result, hoping Saracens could win away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe message was clear this week: We want to win this game and the rest will take care of itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Sharks coach added his starting XV \u201cdid the job\u201d by playing at a high tempo and making Clermont tired, though the Sharks only led 14-12 at half-time thanks to two knock-ons from attacking positions, and another over the try line.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could see there were a lot of knock-ons and it looked deurmekaar [confused]. But it was part of the plan to play at high tempo, especially in the Durban afternoon heat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said his team\u2019s tempo caused Clermont to make their own errors, and earn a 20-minute red card and two yellow cards for poor discipline.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you play fast it will take them longer to get onside. So you must give credit to us for keeping the tempo and accuracy in the game. I know the feeling of being on the other side [of that tempo]. I\u2019ve been in Toulouse. This is a good result for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-lessons-learned\">Lessons learned<\/h2>\n<p>He said he had learned that the Sharks would not reach the round of 16 so long as they lost their away pool matches. His second-string teams were thrashed 56-19 by Toulouse in France and 26-10 by Sale Sharks in Manchester.<\/p>\n<p>You can see what Bristol did at Loftus. They came here [to South Africa] and won.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On his young players, who had not always produced Champions Cup-level performances, he said, \u201cTo play in two competitions, you need a squad. That is why we are giving players exposure. And also to see if they can play at this level. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cJurenzo [Julius] was good at 12 today. And PK [Sobahle] came alive. I need to give opportunities, I can\u2019t just say someone is not good enough and not play him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Pietersen #Lessons #learned #Sharks #fall #Challenge #Cup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sharks finished the pool stage in fifth position with two wins and two defeats. They drop into the Challenge&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47766,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47764\/revisions\/47766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}