The Sharks have a 50% success rate in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby tournament, and consistency is going to be key in the second half of the pool stages if their goals are to be realised. The record stands as lost, lost, won, won, lost, won, lost, won and in order to be a side that can really take their campaign by the scruff of the neck and own it, stringing together a number of successive wins is what is necessary explained coach John Plumtree at his first media briefing at Mr Price KINGS PARK since the team left for their four match overseas tour. “We’ve only strung together two good performances in a row once, so clearly we haven’t established any type of consistency in terms of results and that’s reflecting in our onfield play in terms of our defence and attack,” he pointed out. Winning is a habit and once the ball is rolling, so the victories become ‘easier’ (or teams know how to find ways to win close games). For The Sharks, three of their four losses have been by a heart-breaking seven points or less, suggesting that the bounce of a ball, a missed tackle or an incorrect decision may well have been the difference between one log point and four. This weekend, The Sharks have the opportunity to string back-to-back victories together, playing at home again (where they have not lost this season). But before they accomplish that, some hard work will be done on the training pitch in order to stimulate an all-round great performance. “We haven’t been happy with all areas of our game consistently after each performance” The Sharks coach admitted. “Either our setpiece has let us down when we defended well or our attack was good but not our defence. We’re still looking for that complete performance where can go away and say we had a good day out. “Our lineouts have been good, then poor. On defence, we haven’t found enough consistency with our tackle percentages for where they need to be at Super Rugby level. There’s a fair bit of work to do and we’ll keep working hard.” The Sharks will be making a late call on hooker Bismarck du Plessis who, by the nature of his game, ordinarily will be battered and bruised. He will be given until as late as possible to prove his fitness. “He has a number of minor issues with his body - he has a groin strain which is why we sent him home from tour early, he had a quad strain after the Brumbies game, he’s had problems with his shoulder, so he’s suffered a fair bit of wear and tear. He’s the type of guy who will play through injury, but we eventually said we need to take him out. He ran quite nicely on Tuesday and we’ll consider him for selection on Thursday.” Fortunately, in Craig Burden, The Sharks have an able replacement, scoring two tries in the two games he started for Bismarck on tour, showing that he also has plenty to offer. “Craig is behind one of the best players in the world in that position (Bismarck), but when he got the opportunity he really grabbed it – and good on him – that’s what it’s all about. He certainly showed that he’s more than capable at this level.” But the Chiefs await and this is a Chiefs’ side that is seriously dangerous. Their position at the top of the log lies testament to this. They have scored the second highest number of tries and conceded the fewest and will be confident following their win over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last Saturday. “Their players are in really good form,” Plumtree admitted. “In the past, the Chiefs possibly suffered with defensive lapses, but this team has conceded the least number of tries of all the teams in the competition and that’s been an unknown for Chiefs’ sides in the past, they’ve always scored lots of tries but also conceded lots. “But not this team. So they’re pretty confident.”