Coach Sean Everitt was impressed with the Sharks’ counter-attacking prowess in Saturday’s comeback win against Connacht at Kings Park.

The Durbanites trailed 21-10 at half time, only to bounce back strongly in the second half for a 41-21 victory to keep their home playoff aspirations on track in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

Only one of the Sharks’ five tries was scored by a backline player, yet Everitt singled out Aphelele Fassi for his efforts in the buildup to Marius Louw’s touchdown.

“People think that when you kick the ball away, you’re kicking it to the opposition, but if you kick it well, you get it back and have a counter-attacking opportunity,” the Sharks boss said.

“That’s where guys like Aphelele come into the game. He can turn a game around with good feet and pace and that’s exactly what he did.

“He’s really dangerous from the back and when you add the likes of Makazole Mapimpi, we were able to turn it on from there.

Highlights: Second-half Sharks sink Connacht

“I’m happy the second 40 [minutes] was better because there were a lot of people who came to watch us and we didn’t want to disappoint them.”

Everitt added: “Things didn’t go our way in the first half, which was quite strange and both teams gave away a lot of penalties.

“Both players couldn’t get into their rhythm, but half time gave us an opportunity to regroup. We spoke about what we needed to do and actions being bigger than words.

“We had to go out and make it happen in the way we planned during the week. It was a pressure game, so I must give the players credit for getting through with the job.

“The occasion could have been big for them.”