South Africans know only too well after what happened at the Rugby World Cup that one point makes all the difference between jubilation and dejection, but for Sharks fans the agony of that losing margin against Connacht should have at least been partially counterbalanced by a sense of hope.
Five losses in five starts in this edition of the United Rugby Championship (URC) does not make good reading for the Durbanites. Already it is unlikely they will make the top four, so they can look forward to travelling in the knockout phase if they get that far.
When it came to the match itself, it was hard to disagree with the sense of bewilderment portrayed by their captain, Francois Venter, in a post-match interview: “I don’t know how we lost that game.”
I was so convinced they were going to win once they took the lead for the first time in the 50th minute that, mindful that I had to cover the Stormers/Munster game straight after the Durban clash, I started to write my match report around an angle that had to be hurriedly changed later on.
It certainly looked like a day where all the talk of the early part of the second John Plumtree era at the Sharks of a new beginning around a more dynamic, possession-orientated and attacking playing template, had seen flesh added to the bones. The Sharks’ attacking shape, their tempo and intensity, as well as the intent and accuracy behind their passing game and phase play, was light years better than anything we’ve seen from them for a long time.
They didn’t get across the line this time mainly because of poor decision-making and a lack of the street smarts that come with experience.
Which cues a point — the second Plumtree stint at the Sharks is taking a while to get going for precisely the reason the coastal franchise has struggled pretty much every year since the Kiwi was told to clear his desk when John Smit took over as CEO back in 2013. It comes down to mismanagement that has translated into inept and unfocused, unscientific recruitment.
Smit should not be blamed for the decade of disaster, but the people who thought it was clever to fill the CEO position with someone who had just finished his playing career should be. The board of directors at the Sharks should have eased Smit’s passage into his new life by asking the long-serving and astute Brian van Zyl to stick around in an advisory capacity.
The real rugby people of KwaZulu-Natal appear to appreciate Van Zyl’s value because he was subsequently voted by the clubs back into the union presidency (amateur arm). But had there been a proper transition between Van Zyl and his replacement, the Sharks might have realised the folly of sacking Plumtree when they had no clear idea who would replace him.
The initial idea was that Brendan Venter, who had impressed Smit at Saracens, would coach the Sharks, but those who had worked with Venter also knew the former Springbok centre would not easily choose being a rugby specialist over his other life as a medical doctor in the Western Cape. Venter did direct behind the scenes when the Sharks won the Currie Cup later in 2013, but he told me he wouldn’t be going on as coach after that. Sadly, if he told the Sharks bosses, they didn’t listen, and the upshot of all of that initial uncertainty was that the coaching position became a revolving door.
Recruitment
Most significantly, while we all know that John Dobson gets the players he needs for his Stormers game plan and ditto Jake White at the Bulls, the recruitment at the Sharks has never been in the hands of the coach.
Which is why during Sean Everitt’s stint as coach he ended up having marquee players foisted on him by the new American owners that did not fit into his playing template or the culture he had set out on building from the group of players he had coached to age-group success. And while the Sharks had money once the Americans came in, the lack of astuteness of the recruitment people saw the most financially resourceful local franchise somehow manage to become the one in the top three with the poorest playing depth.
That is what Plumtree inherited and it is why the Sharks are five losses from five starts and why, in a media discussion this week, Plumtree pointed to the lack of depth and the plethora of players 23 years or younger he is working with.
In their narrow defeat to Connacht, the Sharks showed the direction they intend going under Plumtree, and it is an exciting one if there is patience and he is allowed to follow through with his plan. What the Sharks need though to be successful is for Plumtree to have complete control of the recruiting process or the glimmer of hope spotted above Kings Park on Saturday will just be another mirage.
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