Advertisement

Sharks standout in Leicester mauling puts pen to paper

football17 December 2024 07:30
By:Gavin Rich
Share
article image

The timing of the announcement that Ethan Hooker has extended his contract with the Hollywoodbets Sharks could not have been more perfect, for he was the one standout in an otherwise sobering experience for the Durbanites at Welford Road at the weekend.

The Sharks were competitive in the first quarter of the Investec Champions Cup game against Leicester Tigers up until the 24 minute mark, and effectively surrendered any chance of winning it when Leicester scored four tries in the remaining 16 minutes of the half.

There were some errors that contributed, and it is easy to feel sorry for wing Eduan Keyter, who did well to stop a Handre Pollard penalty line kick from going into touch but his pass back unfortunately got picked up by a Leicester player to give away the try that took the hosts more than a score ahead.

After that there was only going to be one winner, and it got systematically worse for the Sharks after that, but Hooker, as he has done all season, shone brightly in a losing effort. Young scrumhalf Bradley Davids, who came on in the second half, has also been locked down by the Sharks for a continuation, and he deserves that given his form in the Currie Cup, while the man who led the Sharks for much of that campaign, looseforward Nick Hatton, has also had a nod to his future potential confirmed by a contract renewal.

Ox Nche, one of the Boks who did not go to England for the Champions Cup fixture, has also been locked in for a continuation, so the Sharks are going through a busy period off the field in the contracting process.

If coach John Plumtree has his way, there should also be some time spent negotiating with the Champions Cup organisers over the scheduling and formatting of the competition going forward. While Plumtree was disappointed with the big defeat at Welford Road, and it did tell him what he probably didn’t want to know about the depth, or lack of it, below his first choice team, he also would have seen it coming.

While there is understandable criticism in England in particular at the South African teams sending understrength combinations to away Champions Cup fixtures, Plumtree saw his selection decision as unavoidable. Heading to England for one game and then returning to play the Vodacom Bulls in a key Vodacom United Rugby Championship game a week later would undeniably have compromised his team’s chances in that crucial derby.

Plumtree has a solution to the problem that he hopes someone will take up.

“We want to bring Siya here. We want to bring our best here, and what a showcase game that would be,” said Plumtree.

“I want to go out there and give Leicester a good hiding in front of their home crowd. But the reality is we’ve got to look after these athletes. They are not robots. They don’t front up every week. And right now, the South African boys are treated like robots.”

When he said that Plumtree would not just have been referring to the Champions Cup schedule, but also the fact that unlike the rest of the world, the top South African players are on a 12 month season because of this country’s commitment to the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, which is played in what for the northern hemisphere is the off-season.

While the All Black players are on holiday now and enjoying a proper off-season, the home based South African players who beat them in the Championship a few months ago are still busy with the same season, and will just have sporadic breaks of a few weeks here and here, rather than a proper off-season, before the teams meet again next year.

But Plumtree has a solution to the problem that is implicit in having the SA sides committed to two competitions in the form of the Champions Cup and URC.

“I think the organisers need to have a look at it and go: ‘Well, why are we sending a team up here for one week?’ We arrive on Wednesday and play on Saturday. It’s hardly high performance,” he said.

“Maybe we should come up here and play a couple of games, and stay for a fortnight? They need to look at it.”

It does appear a more workable solution to a problem that has to be overcome if South Africa wants to remain part of the Champions Cup, even though it should be noted that there is a degree of hypocrisy in some of the overseas criticism of the South Africans going understrength in their away games. Did Handre Pollard and the other Tigers top players play the first Champions Cup game against Bordeaux Begles? No they didn’t.

Advertisement