Brad Macleod-Henderson & Paul Anthony
John Plumtree coached the Cell C Sharks in six Absa Currie Cup campaigns, and in four of those they topped the log.
They didn’t always convert that advantage. In 2009 they finished top but got bombed by the Cheetahs in a Kings Park semifinal on a day that, Plumtree will probably agree now, he made a mistake by absorbing too many Springboks back into the starting team. The Boks had won a series against the British and Irish Lions that year, as well as the Tri-Nations.
They weren’t in the mood and didn’t have the energy for the Currie Cup.
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And, of course, in 2012 they got done in Durban by a second string Western Province team because of complacency.
Everything was in their favour that day, but the Sharks played like they knew that, and when WP centre Juan de Jongh scored a brilliant try for the visitors towards the end of the first half, the hosts were unable to cope with the unexpected pressure.
Where are we going with this? Well, it’s all about where the Sharks are now. What Plumtree got right in those years when his team topped the log – they won two titles in that time – was that he successfully transitioned his Super Rugby team, that was laden with Boks, into a winning team without them in the regular domestic season.
In almost all those years the Sharks started slowly, with an opening defeat in Kimberley not being an unheard of occurrence, but then, during the course of the Currie Cup, his team would start to show noticeable progress and then reach a point that, even without the usual star starters from the Super Rugby side, they were top of the local pile.
Last year it happened with a different coach, or director of rugby, running the show in the form of Brendan Venter. The Sharks were beaten by Griquas at home in their first game, but after that only lost to WP in the league phase (twice) before beating their Cape rivals in the full strength decider in Cape Town.
The 2014 Currie Cup season is only three matches old, but although the Durbanites are unbeaten at this juncture there is quite intense pressure building on the new coaching group to show that they can emulate their predecessors by fitting the Sharks suit to fit a different cloth as they tackle the Steval Pumas in at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Friday night.
In other words, with the Bok first choices away on international duty, they need to switch the emphasis away from the big men and towards the pace they have in the team out wide.
At least that is the intent if you heed the talk that has come out of Durban since the start of the Currie Cup, with the three coaches – Brad Macleod-Henderson, Sean Everitt and Paul Anthony, taking it in turns to talk up the “new” game.
Sometimes it comes across as hubris, for so far it is debatable that the Currie Cup version of the Sharks have shown any promise that the transition will be successful. Tonderai Chavhanga did score a good try last week against the Free State Cheetahs, but much of the 240 minutes of action the Sharks have seen so far have been taken up by what we can regard as a reversion to type – meaning that when the pressure is on, the mauling forward based route has been what they have turned to, and what has got them out of the holes they have found themselves in.
TIME TO GET IT RIGHT
Certainly that was the case in the first round game against the Pumas in Durban just two weeks ago. Given that the Sharks didn’t look to have any more clue about how to attack with their backs in that game than they did in Super Rugby, and had to rely on the forwards to turn around a half-time deficit in the second half, it is going to be interesting to see what game they employ against those same opponents in Nelspruit.
But the Sharks, according to what assistant Anthony said in a press conference after the team announcement, are committed to the process, although they are also honest enough to admit that they don’t have it right yet.
“We have to get away from the fact that we can’t just carry the ball straight and directly,” said Anthony in looking forward to the next challenge.
“We have not got it right yet but I think that’s simply because we are trying something new. I think because the guys are so eager, you’ll see a lot of forced offloads and things like that. We’ve just got to settle them down because the guys want to play, but they’re rushing it. So we need to be a little bit more direct first, get the breakdown right and then we can go play the width game that we want to play.
“We’re hoping that every week the players will calm down, they’ll temper the mood and it will lead to more intelligent, more accurate and cleverer play. That’s what we’re really aiming for.”
Plumtree made a habit of getting the players to understand it quite quickly, but then it is probably also true that the transition never had to be as marked when he was in charge. The Super Rugby Sharks of his vintage did play a more all-embracing game, even at their most conservative, than Jake White’s charges did between February and the start of August. So the required leap wasn’t such a big one.
But it seems the Sharks are determined to get there, and they are being helped by the fact that the draw that they found themselves in for the Currie Cup season is far kinder than it might have been. Friday night’s opponents, the Pumas, may well be motivated to prove the theory wrong, but the only top province they have played thus far in the competition is the Cheetahs, who they were fortunate to beat, and they only play WP, the Lions and the Blue Bulls once.
It does mean they have time to get it right, more than they had in previous years, when the Currie Cup was much tougher in the sense that it was played between fewer teams and all the top sides played each other home and away.
“It (the new game) will take getting used to because we played differently in Super Rugby. I think it’s due to over-exuberance, and that’s great because the players are fantastic to work with,” said Anthony.
“They train flat out, they’re geed up all the time and I think if we can just calm everyone down a few percent, maybe take it back a few knots, I think we can play some outstanding rugby because we have got some real pace in the backs.
“The forwards are doing really well at the set piece, so it’s a good combination for a full-on 15-man game. Obviously with the lighter loose forwards we have, they can get around the park and link up, so we’re hoping to definitely get that going in the next couple of games.”
If they get it right, the Sharks might be something to watch. If they don’t deliver on that promise in Nelspruit, however, their fans might be just a little bit less inclined to take on the belief that the Sharks coaches (director of rugby White has nothing to do with this campaign) appear to have. The pressure is on them at Mbombela.