Poor contracting has often been the reason blamed for the Hollywoodbets Sharks failures in the past two Vodacom United Rugby Championship seasons, but as the new season nears there is reason to believe that their old Achilles heel might have been consigned to the past.
It may seem odd to accuse the union with the most contracted Springboks of being poor in that crucial aspect of rugby governance at the professional level, but the number of marquee players on their books is one of the main reasons that the Durban team finished eighth in 2022/23, thus failing to qualify for the Investec Champions Cup, and were even worse last season.
The Sharks had to rely on winning the EPCR Challenge Cup to make it into this season’s Champions Cup, but the context of the Sharks’ failure in the primary competition was the squad that John Plumtree, who arrived as the new coach after a decade away from Durban, inherited.
Up until Plumtree’s arrival, and subsequent to his departure in 2013, a succession of Sharks coaches had struggled because they were more separated from the contracting process than Jake White and John Dobson, the men who head up the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers respectively. In that time there were a lot of dud buys by a recruiting department that appeared to operate on hope rather than any kind of science.
PLUMTREE TOOK FIRM HAND ON CONTRACTING
Plumtree quickly set that right by taking a firm hand on the contracting, and apart from getting to know the players and a coaching group he also inherited, he was working from the early parts of last season on correcting the errors of the past. He didn’t know the players, but by the end of the season he had identified the players who were surplus to requirements, with 14 players going through the exit door during the offseason.
And while he has brought in Springboks in the form of Grant Esterhuizen, Trevor Nyakane and the former Bulls player Jason Jenkins to shore up specific positions where he feels it is necessary, there’s been more of a focus on creating the depth required in most positions if you are to compete across both international competitions.
The Currie Cup is less of a focus than it is for some other unions, and they effectively made the playoffs in the current edition of that competition with an age-group side coached by the age-group coach, JP Pietersen, and fortified by a few experienced campaigners here and here that are less likely to be involved in the URC.
Someone like veteran flyhalf Lionel Cronje and lock Reniel Hugo, a sometimes Sharks captain in past seasons, did a great job in helping the young Sharks side that was superbly captained by Nick Hatton turn around their domestic season. As they head into Saturday’s semifinal against the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria, the Sharks XV as it is known hasn’t lost since their third round defeat to the Airlink Pumas back in mid-July.
Since then their only blemish was being held to a draw by the Pumas in Nelspruit, an indication that the talent identification and procurement at youth level is working, with the key thing to note being that the Sharks’ third place finish was not achieved by a team loaded with URC players.
That is an indication that the depth is being created, however there have been additional signings that have only been introduced during the latter stages of the Currie Cup, when it effectively became a buildup to the URC, that indicate that Plumtree has brought the thinking that might have previously been lacking when it came to contracting.
HENDRIKSE AND YOUNGER TSHITUKA GOOD BUYS
Jordan Hendrikse and Emmanuel Tshituka, younger brother of Vincent, may in time become regular Springboks, with both players having the ability to graduate to that level, but right now they will be available for the understrength initial phase of the season. It was when they had to start last season’s campaign without their Boks, who were at the World Cup and then rested post that tournament, that the Sharks were put on the back foot.
This time around that is less likely to happen as, like White and like Dobson have been doing for three years, recruitment has been done with one eye firmly on the need to be competitive when the Boks are not available.
The loose forward stocks in the Hollywoodbets Sharks after the arrival of Siya Kolisi 😮💨💪 pic.twitter.com/LRQ90KBsLo
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 9, 2024
“It’s about your squad’s strength, not your internationals,” said Plumtree in response to a question this week at a URC online media session featuring coaches who will be mentoring teams in the coming season.
“We feel like we have recruited well and strengthened some areas that we struggled with last year. We are (also) a much happier bunch now, which makes life easier.”
On that last point, there was a clear growth in the Sharks’ culture last season, something that shone through particularly bright in the playoff phase of the Challenge Cup. Previous Sharks teams could well have lost with something to spare when they were being outplayed by Clermont in the first half of the semifinal in London, but they hung in and came back to win a tight game.
One year from arriving back in Durban not knowing anyone he was working with, Plumtree feels far more settled now, and he reckons his team is more settled.
“The expectations are not something I think much about to be honest,” he said.
“Last year was my first year here, I had a new coaching group that I had inherited, and I didn’t know anyone. Relationships have now been built and the coaches and I have learnt things from them and they have learned things from me. We have a happy coaching group and it is the same with the players.
“I had to get rid of some players during the off season, but the players I have are players I trust and who know me now and I know them and hopefully they trust me. I never really had much expectation last year as it was all about getting to know people, building relationships and creating a base. I won’t dwell on what the expectations are but we will continue with our areas of focus.”
SIYA’S RETURN A BOOST
Double World Cup winning Bok captain Siya Kolisi was this week added to the list of marquee players on the Sharks’ books and Plumtree sees a positive spinoff from that, particularly if the team can get into the playoff phases of both the URC and Champions Cup.
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: The Springbok captain is back in black with the Hollywoodbets Sharking confirming the signing of Siya Kolisi 🦈 pic.twitter.com/yAr52YSvgt
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 9, 2024
“We are delighted to have Siya back. He wants to be back and wants to have his family back in South Africa and back in Durban. We are happy to have him back given the way he can bond the team with its different cultures.
“He is also an outstanding player. We have a lot of quality leaders in the group and that is going to be hugely beneficial to us if we can get into a position to challenge at the business end of both the URC and the EPCR (Champions Cup).
Plumtree believes though that how the Sharks do without their Boks in the initial phases will determine the success of the season.
“I think we are better off and more prepared in that regard than we were before but we will see how it goes,” he said.
The Sharks open with a challenging away trip to Connacht on 28 September. The magnitude of that task, and the crux of the Sharks’ challenge, can be summed up by the fact that when they are in Galway many of the first choice players will be in Nelspruit with the Boks as they play their final Castle Lager Rugby Championship game against Argentina.