Sometimes there is too much made of the number of Springboks that are in the Hollywoodbets Sharks teams that are announced each week by coach John Plumtree.
It’s a different culture, a different goal, and the former All Black assistant will tell you that focus is not replicated in the Kiwi media when it comes to the number of internationals in say the Crusaders or Blues teams.
One time it definitely could count heavily in the Sharks’ favour though is now, as the Durbanites head to Pretoria for a Vodacom URC semifinal against a Vodacom Bulls team which, perhaps a bit unfairly as the charge ignores obvious context, may feel it has a point to prove to some critics who feel they may be vulnerable in the big moments.
Two games against weaker Sharks teams than the one that will play at Loftus, and actually three if you factor in the Carling Currie Cup semifinal, all of which were lost by fine margins, are the reference point of those that make the charge. Plus of course two defeats in URC finals and one in a Rainbow Cup final.
The counter to any claim that those finals losses were about temperament should be that in the 2022 URC final the Bulls had to fly home from Dublin for the game, so the logistics put them at a disadvantage.
A suggestion that the Bulls team of that year was weak temperamentally is laughable if you consider that to get to the decider they beat Leinster in Dublin.
The Rainbow Cup game was complacency, pure and simple. The Bulls just never pitched for that game and seemed ill prepared for just how good Benetton were on the day. Remember it was also the first time the Bulls had played overseas and against an overseas team since before Covid.
And complacency was arguably also a factor in last year’s final, which they reached through another composed demolition of the Ireland laden Leinster team and hence became over-confident against a Glasgow team that had finished two places behind them on the log and had been outplayed on their previous visit to Loftus.
DURBANITES CAN UPSTAGE ALL COMERS IN COMPOSURE GAME
But you don’t have to have a suspect temperament to be upstaged in the composure game by a Sharks team that has made a habit of somehow finding a way to win when it seems almost impossible.
When they were down 21-10 with just over a quarter of an hour remaining against Munster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park last week, you wouldn’t have bet on the Sharks winning.
The game looked done for them. But they came back to win in a penalty shoot-out that itself required a special kind of composure.
It wasn’t the first time this Sharks team has prevailed when having to come from behind. We could go back to last year’s EPCR Challenge Cup semifinal against Clermont-Auvergne, where they were outplayed in the first half but recovered in the second, but there are more recent examples.
They recovered from 17-5 down to beat Ulster in Ulster, and also had to overcome a deficit to beat Edinburgh in Edinburgh a week before that.
Coming back to win is becoming a Sharks speciality and prevailing in really tight games is their speciality too. And of course, that’s exactly what the Boks are known for. They reign the world currently, but let’s not forget that their most recent World Cup triumph saw them win all three of their playoff games by a solitary point.
Bok captain Siya Kolisi didn’t duck the question or give a fudged answer when asked the question. He answered honestly.
“It does help (to have so many World Cup winners) to be honest,” said Kolisi in the buildup to Saturday’s big game at Loftus.
“You know what pressure is about, and having been there it also helps the other players around you. You are able to talk to the guy next to you who maybe hasn’t experienced that kind of pressure before and tell him that panic will not help.
"What you need in those situations (when it is close or you are behind) is calmness.
“Eben (Etzebeth) and Andre (Esterhuizen) are both team leaders who have been there and are able to impart the message that you need to just stay focused on what is in front of you and remain in the moment. It is important what you do in the moment.
"You can’t look at the scoreboard and worry about that at that time. We are lucky to have people like Eben to focus the guys and target the next moment. We have been there but the guy next to you who hasn’t draws on that experience.”
DAVIDS EXEMPLIFIES SHARKS’ STRENGTH
As it turns out, the last time the Sharks were in a URC playoff game at Loftus was in the first season, 2022 - and they lost a close one. Chris Smith, the Bulls flyhalf that day, won the game with a drop-goal off the last move of the game.
“Remember that, it was really tough. That was also a time when crowds were limited because of Covid, so it will be exciting to have people come into the stadium for this game. It is the sort of occasion you dream about as a young player. Playing in an arena like that, and Loftus is such a big and noisy stadium. We’re looking forward to it.”
The Sharks will be hoping it doesn’t come down to another penalty shoot-out, but the calmness displayed by one of the youngest and newest players in the team, Bradley Davids, last weekend is an example of the kind of ice-cool temperament that is one of the Sharks’ biggest weapons in the semifinal.
“He (Davids) was so chilled, he didn’t even really celebrate, he was just happy to get through,” said Kolisi.
“We know him like that and the coach knows him like that, which is why he was sent onto the field so he could be part of the shootout. He has guts. I am not sure you would have noticed, but before the (deciding) kick he was playing soccer with the ball.
"Nothing phases him and he has a good poker face. He didn’t play at all in the game, he was brought on only right at the end. But he stayed ready, and when he was called upon he knew the assignment. And he delivered.”
That perfectly sums up what the Sharks do have going for them in the semifinal.