Another week, another game, this time in Edinburgh, and another instance where it was felt the Hollywoodbets Sharks under-achieved. Last time it was the Leinster second string team that they fell short against. Before that, it was the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg.
That is an interesting cross-section of games to look at if you want to do the full kaleidoscope when it comes to interrogating the question that apparently many Sharks fans are asking on social media - as in what is wrong with the Sharks.
Although I could add a few additional games in a quest to make a point that some might be missing: The narrow win over Zebre in Durban four weeks ago, and the equally close escape against the Lions in the return game in Durban.
I would add those games because they weren’t unlike the most recent one in Edinburgh - you’d think from the reaction that the Sharks had lost in Edinburgh. But they didn’t. They won.
Yes, it was only by one point, but the Bulls would love to have won by one point at that venue the previous week. They didn’t. Neither did the Lions the week before that.
In fact, why don’t those who were so disappointed in the Sharks on Good Friday call out the names of the South African teams that have won in Edinburgh in recent seasons. I can’t think of any.
The DHL Stormers lost 38-6 there in October. The closest the Stormers have ever come to winning in the Scottish capital was the first game they ever played there. It was a draw.
GETTING ACROSS LINE AS WINNERS IS PROGRESS
The Sharks lost close games they should have won last season. This season they are getting across the line in the close ones. I mention these close wins, and to those can also be added the two against the Vodacom Bulls, because it confounds any theory that the Sharks lack passion or interest.
The loss against Leinster at home was not sourced in a lack of passion and commitment. On the contrary, it was a day when the Sharks suffered white line fever in their eagerness to score.
Why the away game against the Lions is an important one to include in any analysis is because that was the outlier, the throwback to last season, or for that matter several seasons before that dating back to when current coach John Plumtree had his first stint at the Sharks ended when he was told to clear his desks in 2013.
If the commitment of the Sharks against Edinburgh is questioned those who are doing the questioning are ignoring an important fact. Edinburgh was a game where most of the possession, most of the attacking opportunities, belonged to the home team.
The Sharks won primarily because of their defence. Defence is all about attitude. So surely that’s not something lacking from the Sharks.
I will concede it is not a good look when the former Sharks coach, Sean Everitt, now in charge of a team with far fewer marquee players than he had playing for him at the franchise he left two years ago, appeared to out-coach the current Sharks coach for most of the 80 minutes.
But then it is time to engage the memory - Everitt didn’t just leave the Sharks, he was effectively sacked for performances that were worse than what the Sharks are achieving now. If Everitt took the Sharks to fourth on the URC log, which is what Plumtree is about to do, he would not have been shown the door.
NUMBER OF GALACTICO PLAYERS SHAPES EXPECTATION
Or maybe he would have, for there is a perception that because of the Galactico players on their books, the Sharks should be winning everything. There was a seismic shift to expectations at the Sharks when Everitt was in charge. In his first season he had a team dominated by players he had worked with at age-group level at the top of the Super Rugby log when Covid arrived.
He had a playing system in place that was working but then came the American equity partners who decided that the route to success was simply to buy a squad. They contracted several big name Springboks without much thought to whether they suited the culture or Everitt’s playing pattern.
You have Siya Kolisi on your books you have to play him, but James Venter and Dylan Richardson were doing well as ball-scavenging openside flanks. Everitt told me he’d never go without that type of player. Kolisi wasn’t in the same mould but No 6 was his position and he was Bok captain so he had to play.
Plumtree has subsequently got around that by playing Kolisi at No 8 and the Bok captain is excelling in that role, but the point is that none of this was properly thought out.
For my money, there are South African franchises that get it wrong by spending too little money and not bringing in star talent. That’s the Lions and the Stormers may be falling short there too.
The Sharks may go too much in the opposite direction by having too many players on their books who are Springbok World Cup winners first and foremost and Sharks players second.
Let’s not question the commitment of those players though, as it may be the South African circumstance that is to blame for the Sharks’ failure under a succession of coaches (Neil Powell followed Everitt and didn’t do any better than his predecessor) to bring the success demanded by the quality on their team-sheet.
JAKE RIGHT ON CONTINUITY POINT
Bulls director of rugby Jake White, who by the way may have the balance between first choice international players and good URC players spot on when it comes to contracting, made a good point when he commented on the Sharks team selected for the Edinburgh game.
With Eben Etzebth back, not many would have argued against his contention it was the best Sharks team on paper in maybe 15 years.
He added though, a concern that they would take a while to gel together as many of the players hadn’t played in a while. It was maybe a naive expectation to think that because the Sharks have Galactico players on the team sheet they’d just sweep Edinburgh, a team with strong continuity in selection, off the park.
So maybe it is wiser to let the Sharks play a few more games together before bringing out the ashes and the sackcloth in Durban. If there is no improvement against Ulster in their next match, maybe then there should be concern.
For the record, when the Sharks were at full strength, meaning they had Etzebeth and company in tow, earlier in the season they showed some imperious form in an impressive four-match winning streak against URC champions Glasgow Warriors, former champions Munster and the Stormers, and the Exeter Chiefs.
Glasgow fought back to put a false gloss on the scoreline in their game but it is only Leinster who have been as comprehensively better than Glasgow this year, and their big win over Munster effectively ended Graham Rowntree’s tenure as Munster coach.
The Sharks were styling and building back then and it wasn’t fanciful to think that they might be building to become like the other team in the URC that is so heavily populated with first choice internationals when at full strength. Namely Leinster.
NOT COMPARING APPLES WITH APPLES
But comparing the Sharks to Leinster, and having Leinster-like expectations for the Sharks, is not comparing apples with apples unfortunately because the SA commitment to what is effectively a 12 month season means the challenge facing local coaches is far greater.
While the Leinster players were enjoying their offseason from July to September last year, the Sharks’ Boks were playing in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship. And some of the rank and file players were playing in the Currie Cup.
Yes, there are resting periods of a few weeks at a time, but you don’t need a degree in sport science to know that a continuous rest period followed by a proper pre-season is what is needed.
The injury crisis the Sharks went through after the Exeter game in early December may well be sourced in the 12 month season, and beyond the injuries there is also the complicated scenario that develops around the need to ensure the players also get their mandatory rest.
Plumtree said it when his team visited Cape Town after Christmas - the top players are not robots. In other words they cannot go flat out all year. The Stormers and Bulls coaches will probably tell you the same about their international players, many of whom have also had seasons truncated by injury.
The 12 month season is not something Leinster have to contend with and it is only when that imbalance is addressed that we can properly expect Bok World Cup winners to be a match for Ireland’s top players when they meet at a level lower down.
We are at the business end of the URC season now and I suspect that will bring the best out of the Sharks’ big name players and they may end up making their critics look stupid. Their failure to perform up to now may be down to a problem that goes way beyond just the Sharks and is something SA rugby needs to confront.