Time to get this one over with, I fear. While the Sharks came back nicely in the second half to secure a losing bonus point, we unfortunately cannot allow that to detract from what was otherwise a pretty woeful overall performance from the team as a whole, netting no higher than a generous 5 out of 10. We rate the individuals against that.

1) Danie Mienie. The youngster did his bit in the loose; however, a prop’s job is to scrum and without wanting to be too harsh on the debutant, that phase of play did not go well enough to warrant a decent rating. Danie will improve on this and come back a better player. 4/10

2) Craig Burden. Showed a bit of spark, with one nice break in particular, but was found wanting in set piece play, with lineouts and scrums both messy. 5/10

3) Rayno Gerber. Expected more from a man of his experience. Herbst was considerably better in all areas when he came on. 3/10

4) Peet Marais. His lack of experience at this level showed and he battled to assert himself; that said, his workrate remained furious throughout the game. Needs to take a big step up as a line out lock. 5/10

5) Marco Wentzel. An unhappy evening, ending in injury. While he was on, Marco battled against a fired-up Province tight five. 4/10

6) Keegan Daniel. Made a few telling contributions, but on the whole was overshadowed by his opposite number in every conceivable way. The Sharks needed a ground player at 6 to counter Province and they didn’t have one in Keegan. 5/10

7) Jean Deysel. Certainly very busy, but lacked the desired impact in his role of “one-man-band” against the team effort Province put in. Struggled for yards as a ball carrier and could perhaps have been better utilised closer to the ruck, where his bulk was needed. Was a cut above the other Sharks forwards, though. 7/10

8) Jacques Botes. Beavered away industriously and scored an interesting try, but again was part of a forward unit that spent the whole night on the back foot. 6/10

9) Cobus Reinach. Lasted all of 15 minutes and spent pretty much all of those being hurried backwards. 5/10

10) Butch James. Hard to slate a legend, but Butch was really poor. His kicking was woefully executed and a man of his experience really shouldn’t ahve been so comprehensibley outplayed by a youngster. 3/10

11) Lwazi Mvovo. Once again popped up for a try when one was going, but otherwise had a quiet night. Work rate can again be questioned, while he allowed his opposite number far too much room to move. 5/10

12) Tim Whitehead. Spent the whole evening chasing shadows, one feels. We need to give Tim a bit of time to settle back in after such a long injury break. 4/10

13) Louis Ludik. Probably the best back, from a defensive point of view. That said, the entire line was porous, with very little done on attack to redeem themselves. 6/10

14) Sizo Maseko. A player with a lot of heart, Maseko came back reasonably well after a shaky start. Looks for work and tackles manfully, although as a raw youngster, many aspects of his game still need a lot of polishing. 5/10

15) SP Marais. Made a few mistakes, but always looks to have something up his sleeve. This wasn’t a polished performance by any means, but we know the young man is capable of better. 5/10

16) Kyle Cooper. Made a hug difference in the tight loose when he came on; set pieces remained iffy, though. 6/10

17) Wiehahn Herbst. Wasn’t able to shore up the scrum entirely, but did a better job of limiting the damage than Gerber had. Apart from one glaring slip, did well on defence too. 5/10

18) Edwin Hewitt. His best game to date in a Sharks jersey; prominent on the drive and made no errors that I could see. 6/10

19) Justin Downey. Didn’t have much chance to get into the game – he spent three separate short stints on the field. Was massive on defence, though, with a good line-out steal late in the game probably preventing a fourth Province try. 6/10

20) Charl McLeod. Had difficult ball to work with, but did a reasonable-enough job. Some box kicks were poorly executed, though. 5/10

21) Fred Zeilinga. Made a bit of a hash of a few line kicks and also fumbled a ball badly in the Sharks 22. Counter that with hte amazing pass to set up Mvovo’s try and you get the picture of a young player who makes mistakes, but also makes things happen. 5/10

22) Jaco van Tonder. Unused.