Sharks assistant coach Grant Bashford said that his squad could take many positives from their 28-25 Currie Cup win over Western Province last Friday.

"Watching it live I thought it was worse than it really was, but with the amount of preparation time, in essence we only had four sessions in preparation for the game (including two the previous week for the compulsory friendly), we were always going to be under-prepared from a structure point of view," said Bashford.

"But if we can get better at what we do, it is positive for the rest of the season."

He paid tribute to the opposition, especially praising the tenacity and durability of the Capetonians.

"Province will be there at the end. But if you look at them, there wasn't much else to their game aside from eight forwards and a flyhalf and I thought we offered more than that. Also, when the chips were down, the guys gutsed out the win.

"We gave away opportunities this past weekend, but that's teething problems that you are always going to get at the beginning of a season with new players.

"It would be a problem if we weren't creating opportunities."

Currently Brad Barritt, Jannie du Plessis and Scott Mathie are all pending fitness tests for Friday's match against Boland at The Absa Stadium in Durban.

"We are not planning on making many changes, it is important for the side to grow," he explained.

He also pointed out in Barritt's case that Monty Dumond, drafted into the squad for the next few months has trained with the Sharks all week.

"It's good having him as cover, he also brings a good kicking game as back-up for Rory Kockott."

If Barritt is unfit to play, either of Monty Dumond or Andrew Borgen will fill in. In Barritt's case, huge accolades must be given for his courage last week.

Bashford confirmed that the young centre-cum-flyhalf had the flu early in the week, suffered a back spasm at captain's practice and then pulled his quad during the match warm-up but still played through the pain.

"He has torn a quad muscle and he's responding well to treatment," Bashford told the official Sharks website.

"We will give him every opportunity to recover; he'll play this weekend if he's right which is good for continuity.

"I spent time with Eddie Jones at IRANZ [after the Super 14] and he's just as convinced as I am that Brad can do a good job at 10.

"In general, we were happy with what he produced, the result was great. It's exciting where we are going."

He also gave praise to Craig Burden who just a year ago had been shoved into the front row for the first time in his career, having been moved there from centre and wing.

"We've been unbelievably pleased with the way he has come through."

Bashford also pointed out that under the new ELVs introduced for the Currie Cup, there was no limitation on how many players a team could put in the lineout.

"This results in plenty of pressure for the hooker to find his jumpers," he revealed.

He also confirmed that Fred Michalak is undergoing intensive rehabilitation and coming through well.

"He's running in the pool and cycling, all the feedback we have is positive," he said.

"They thought the injury would be worse and take longer to recover from, and until he actually runs we won't know, but three weeks is the time we have been given. His fitness levels are very high and he's optimistic."

Fans at the game on Friday might also have been a little mystified at the high number of penalties awarded during the game, particularly in light of the free kicks awarded during the Super 14, and the easiest reaction is to blame the ref.

But in this case it is a new ruling sent down by the International Rugby Board (IRB).

What it has done is slow the game down because there are fewer free kicks.

"It's a little new still but we were happy with the referee, he was consistent for both sides and that's all we can ask for.

"But with less ball-in-play time, our guys felt they could play another 80 minutes. Now there is more time to recover, there are fewer scrums and you can be more clinical when the game is slower and structured, so we will look to improve there," admitted the assistant coach.

"It is exciting in that you have to start thinking about different ways of doing things, but it is a different game now.

"At the end of the tournament, the ELVs will be re-assessed but for now, we're in a transition period between the Super 14 and adapting to new laws, we'll get better."

365