'It's all my fault' - Sharks coach Joey Mongalo after semi-final defeat in Currie Cup

Sharks coach Joey Mongalo has taken the blame on himself for his side's semi-final defeat against the Pumas in the ongoing Currie Cup.

Corne Rahl and Fezokuhle Mbatha scored tries for Sharks while Pumas scored four tries through Corne Fourie, Simon Raw, Andrew Kota and Pieter Jacobs as they sealed a 26-20 victory to lock horns with the Cheetahs in the final.

Following the defeat, Mongalo admitted that he made a mistake of resting key players in the last game of the group stage against Western Province a week before the semi-final encounter.

“It’s all my fault and I mean that,” Mongalo told reporters.

“I am the one who tinkered with the team that went to Western Province.

“I didn’t have to do that. I could have chosen the same team that would have gained momentum going into the semifinal.

“I took a risk and the risk didn’t work.

“You saw how long it took us to get going in the game and that is purely because the guys were disrupted a week before because I chose to play a completely different team against Western Province, so it’s not on the guys, it’s 100 percent on me.”

Mongalo lavished praises on the performance of the Pumas, who will be facing Cheetahs in the final on 24th June at Free State Stadium.

“You could see how they played and how they started the game.

“I thought they were tactically very good in terms of how they stopped our mauls, which is one of our key areas. The kicking game that they used with Devon Williams and Tinus de Beer, I thought was very good, so you got to compliment them.

“They were better than us on the day, but they were better because I disrupted our momentum by changing the team last week.”