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Sharks blot an otherwise solid URC weekend

rugby28 November 2022 05:20| © SuperSport
By:Gavin Rich
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Rohan Janse van Rensburg © Getty Images

South African sides won 75 per cent of the weekend’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clashes but what happened in the fourth and final game in the face-off against Welsh teams overshadowed what was done by the DHL Stormers, the Vodacom Bulls and the Emirates Lions.

Not only did the Cell C Sharks slip to the first defeat suffered on home soil by a local team against Welsh opposition in the competition as the URC (it was previously the PRO14), but they did so in such abject fashion that it is hard to ignore the potential impact on the Durban franchise. In what was a re-run of their equally poor showing against Edinburgh in similar wet conditions in March, the Sharks looked completely clueless about how to tackle a wet weather game.

By contrast Cardiff, who are now in a commanding position in the battle for the Welsh Shield thanks to their 35-0 bonus point win, and also comfortably now in the top part of the overall URC table, gave them a masterclass in how to play wet weather rugby. Just as Blair Kinghorn and co had done for Edinburgh in March, Cardiff halfbacks Lloyd Williams and Jarrod Evans controlled the game.

It was a contentious penalty try at the midpoint of the first half that propelled Cardiff into the 13-0 lead that really piled the pressure onto the hosts, but it would be wrong to quibble about that. It did look on the replay like Sharks wing Manus Potgieter had illegally tapped the ball back over the dead ball line and it didn’t look like he had a realistic shout at dotting it down. So, it was the right call by referee Frank Murphy, who took over the responsibility of making the call rather than leave it to the TMO.

Cardiff, who had not won away from home before this since 2021, were so superior to the Sharks that it sent the mind wandering back to similar humiliations over the last decade. There have been a few, but this was probably the worst since the Crusaders, reduced to 13 men at one stage, put the Sharks to the sword to the tune of 52-10 at Kings Park in 2015.

SHARKS HAVE SOME THINKING TO DO

So what now for the Sharks? Yes, they were without 10 Springboks, but the financial muscle given to the franchise by the partnership with American investors has built up enough depth for that not to matter when you play at home against a team like Cardiff. The Sharks team, with the likes of experienced centres Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Francois Venter in it, plus another Springbok in Sikhumbuzo Notshe, did not lack experience.

Indeed, the Durban team packed far more experience than the Stormers team, that without nine recent Bok tourists comprehensively beat Cardiff in Cape Town at the start of the weekend. They were different weather conditions of course, and opponents, but when you watch the Sharks play and you watch the Stormers play the difference is notable.

The Stormers appear to buzz playing a ball in hand game they clearly enjoy playing and the culture built up by John Dobson shines through. There may be a lot of things behind the Sharks’ continued tendency to play below what you’d expect to be their ability, and the disruption to the culture that was being built up by coach Sean Everitt before the Americans arrived and then with it the quest for big names that didn’t necessarily create symmetry with what had been started, may well be part of that.

ALARMING MESSAGE

The Sharks have definitely had to change course from their initial path, and while money can buy you big names, it takes time to build culture. When the Sharks’ Boks return we may well see that it is possible to buy success, but blowouts like Sunday’s send out an alarming message.

And those who’d be ready to jump on Everitt and lay all the blame on him should note that director of rugby Neil Powell was sitting with him in the coaching box while Cardiff were dishing out their humiliation. Powell has told the media he takes responsibility for selections, so he also needs to take responsibility when they fail.

The Sharks as a collective, and that includes the people who do the recruiting appointing, need to be introspective and ask themselves some searching questions. The Boks are back next week and they have Friday’s game against Ospreys to prepare themselves for the seminal moment that is their entry into the Champions Cup with a plum home game against the English club, Harlequins.

They have the big names to ensure there is light at the end of the tunnel, but big names need all the other aspects of the system to be in line with their level of expectation and performance.

WEATHER REALITY CHECKS

In the meantime, there were a few reality checks from the weekend for not just the Sharks but all the South African teams as they head into a full summer of rugby for the first time. Firstly, as the Sharks discovered but should already have known, in three of the four regions representing South Africa in the URC the months of November, December and January can be wet months.

Certainly in Durban there’s probably more rain from October through to late December than there is for the rest of the year. And in Pretoria and Johannesburg this is electric storm season. Afternoon and evening games won’t necessarily be played on the dry days and fast surfaces that are the norm in the winter months.

In Durban in particular, but also to some extent the other two centres, there is more humidity about to turn the clashes into what are effectively wet weather games. The Lions had wet weather about when they beat the Dragons, and that probably played a role in a performance that was less than perfect even though they got the right result. It didn’t look a day for high tempo rugby.

The weather appeared better in Pretoria on Saturday even though the Bulls’ game against the Ospreys was delayed by an electric storm, with the hosts advertising their intent to inject tempo into their game so that altitude can be a proper ally by eschewing their normally formidable maul as a weapon. It won’t be easy to do that though in games that are played in proper wet weather.

CAPE TOWN MORE SUITED

Cape Town is more suited to summer rugby, particularly if you play in the evening rather than the heat of the afternoon. But even there, Friday’s game showed off the potential curve ball that visited in the form of the strong wind that swept across the field and through the stands. As the two halves reflected, the team with the wind at their backs had a telling advantage.

The Stormers, given they effectively had what looked like a Currie Cup team finishing the game, delivered the performance of the weekend and also the biggest statement, followed by the Bulls. That was the order of finishing in the inaugural URC season in the SA Shield and, pending the return of the Sharks’ Boks and a potential reordering, that is how it looks to be at the moment - the Stormers and the Bulls followed by the other two.

Weekend Vodacom United Rugby Championship results

DHL Stormers 36 Scarlets 19
Ulster 36 Zebre 15
Benetton 24 Edinburgh 17
Vodacom Bulls 43 Ospreys 26
Leinster 40 Glasgow Warriors 5
Munster 24 Connacht 17
Emirates Lions 33 Dragons 25
Cell C Sharks 0 Cardiff Rugby 35

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