SHARKS assistant coach Joey Mongalo.
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The Sharks’ colourful defence coach, Joey Mongalo, has likened his team’s chances of surviving in the United Rugby Championship to a dying patient in hospital with a faint pulse, but a pulse nonetheless.
Most folk had pulled the white sheet over the corpse after the Sharks lost a “must-win” match against the Ospreys at the weekend, plunging them to 11th spot on the URC points ladder and 11 points behind the eighth-placed Bulls.
Just three rounds remain in the URC before the top eight finishers contest the quarter-finals. This week, the Sharks visit Edinburgh before completing their URC schedule with home matches against Italian teams Benetton and Zebre.
“After losing that game (21-17), we thought we were dead and out of the URC. But if you look at it now, we’ve still got a 10 percent chance,” Mongalo said on Tuesday from the Scottish capital.
“What we’ve said is, imagine you’re on your deathbed, and you thought you were gone, but the doctor tells you you’ve got a 10 percent chance of living – that’s our chance of making the playoffs.
“So we need to play with that desperation. The desperation of someone fighting to stay alive is how we need to approach this game.”
Against the Ospreys, the Sharks were impressive in the set pieces, but at the back, they lacked invention and ambition.
Still, Mongalo feels there was enough in the overall performance to provide belief they can upset the Scots on their home (4G) “turf”.
“We had an honest and good review of the Ospreys game,” he said. “We felt it was an opportunity where we left a whole bunch of chances out there,” he said.
“Our systems and processes got us into scoring positions, but we just couldn’t get over the line.
“We created a lot of opportunities and kicked really well, so we felt we had enough territory and possession to win that game.”
Edinburgh are coached by former Sharks coach Sean Everitt, who is under pressure because his team are even worse off than the Sharks in the URC — they are in 12th place, and have less than ten percent chance of progressing to the playoffs.
At the weekend, Edinburgh squeaked home 31-30 against 16th-placed Zebre.
“Edinburgh are a good side at home and very different to how they are away from home,” Mongalo said. “They’re a proud team, and the Hive Stadium is a tough place to play, with strong support behind them.
“So we know it’s going to be a hostile environment, but it’s a challenge we’re looking forward to.
“If we can produce a similar performance in terms of effort and physicality – which we thought was really good against the Ospreys – then we’ve got a chance.
“We know there’s more in us. Hopefully, on Friday night, we can bring that physicality and effort.”