Hollywoodbets Sharks XV John Plumtree wanted JP Pietersen to take charge of the team in the Carling Currie Cup final against the Fidelity ADT Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Pietersen, the former Sharks and Springbok World Cup winning wing, coached the Sharks for the first eight rounds of the competition and did a great job with a young team that features several players he is now working with at age group level.
Plumtree, who returned after round 8 to effectively use this period as a preparation for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship season that kicks off next week, told a press conference on Thursday that he was happy for Pietersen to take charge, but the head of Sharks age-group rugby did not bite.
Asked what adding this Currie Cup trophy to the ones he won as Sharks coach in 2008 and 2010, Plumtree referenced the difference in this year’s campaign in comparison to then.
Three starting Hollywoodbets Sharks players will return to Joburg in the #CarlingCurrieCup final this weekend, looking to lift the trophy 👀 pic.twitter.com/2ixCNVas0S
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 19, 2024
“The last time I was in a Currie Cup final was in 2011 (also in Johannesburg) and we lost that game, so it would mean a lot, but I would be more excited for the boys and the management to be honest,” said Plumtree.
“We have had two sets of coaches for this campaign and we have used more than 40 players. We have a large group of boys who are not playing on Saturday but who were involved earlier coming up to watch, and it is the same with management members. What has made this special and different is that there are such a lot of people who have had a role to play.
“I was more than happy for JP to take on the coaching role for this game, but he obviously wanted the old dog to carry one. But he will be there with me. Nick Hatton, who played such a big role as the captain in the earlier stages of the competition, will also be there. If we win, it will be special for everyone.”
CAN’T HELP BUT BE EXCITED
Plumtree is very mindful of the fact that this is just the start of the season for most of the players playing on Saturday and they have a much bigger fish to fry in the form of the URC, but he said his team had noted the upswing in the excitement of the people of Kwa-Zulu/Natal and would go all out to give them something to celebrate.
“There is a genuine excitement in KZN over this opportunity so we can’t help but get excited,” he said.
Pat Lambie slotting drop goals for fun in the 2013 #CarlingCurrieCup final 🎯
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 17, 2024
Can the Hollywoodbets Sharks repeat their heroics in Joburg this Saturday? pic.twitter.com/V1ECXwS5Cs
“We won the (EPCR) Challenge Cup just a few months ago so this would be a second trophy in a short space of time. We know the big picture is that we have got to do well in the URC and in Europe, but we are in the final now so we will give it a good crack. It has been a good week. We had to adjust our training load quite a lot from the past couple of weeks.
“We played 100 minutes at altitude last week (in the semifinal against the Bulls) so we have had to adjust around that and we also fly out for our URC tour just a day and a bit after the game so I have had to give players time off around that too.
"But the players have really enjoyed being part of a week building up to a final. Not many have played in a Currie Cup final, and those that have won it obviously aren’t from around here (because the Sharks haven’t won the domestic trophy since 2018).”
Plumtree added that the extra edge on these games because they were play-off fixtures was a positive in that it would prepare his players for the pressure moments they will face on tour and beyond that in the coming season, but he repeated his earlier calls for the Currie Cup to be moved into a different window in the year.
The competition was played from July through to September, which is supposed to be the off-season in South Africa now that professional rugby here is aligned to the northern hemisphere season.
Who remembers the 1999 Currie Cup final between the Lions and Sharks?
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 18, 2024
Tries from Thinus Delport, Chester Williams and AJ Venter saw the trophy head to Joburg 🏆🦁 pic.twitter.com/W1hPNBTOY4
“The fact that we have had a lot of younger players playing in the Currie Cup, which puts them on a bigger stage and gives us an opportunity to see how they handle that bigger stage, is an obvious positive in that it means those players can be added to our squad list,” said Plumtree.
“But if we are going to play the Currie Cup at this time of the year it can’t go on this long. We have to have a proper pre-season for the players, an opportunity to get them stronger and to work on skills that are necessary and different aspects of conditioning. We cannot play or 12 months of the year.”