JP Pietersen made his early breakthrough into big rugby and became a Springbok during the time that John Plumtree was involved with the Cell C Sharks coaching team so he is a good person to tap what can be expected when the New Zealander returns to Durban in July.
Plumtree was assistant coach to Dick Muir when the Sharks, with Pietersen on the wing and playing rugby good enough to be selected to the Bok World Cup squad, finished top of the Super Rugby log in 2007.
They ended up losing the final at Kings Park in heartbreaking fashion to a freaky try to Bryan Habana for the Vodacom Bulls, but the Sharks were the most impressive team in the competition that season.
The following season Plumtree was elevated to head coach when Muir left to become assistant coach to Peter de Villiers at the Boks and he hit bulls eye at first try as the Sharks lifted the Currie Cup trophy for the first time since 1996.
Pietersen was part of all of that and what came afterwards and he says he has fond memories of the time that the former Natal flanker was in charge.
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“It is good to have Plum coming back and I played most of my rugby under him,” said Pietersen, who is now the Sharks’ assistant coach at Currie Cup level and will soon be taking up the position of head of youth rugby at the union.
“Plum knows the Sharks DNA in and out from being involved as a player in the 1990s and then as a coach in the 2000s. He will bring what Durban rugby people like to see and he will bring the excitement back. He knows how to bring the excitement back and he is not just a guy who talks. He is very professional in his approach.”
The former Bok World Cup-winning wing rated Plumtree when he played for him but expects him to be an even better and more rounded, mature coach this time around.
“He’s been an assistant coach for Ireland, he then went to the Hurricanes and subsequently ended up being an assistant coach at the All Blacks. So there is a lot more to him since he left. He will come back here after almost 10 years away having learned a lot, and I am excited about the prospect of learning from him.”
Pietersen will do that in his role of head of youth rugby, a position he believes will be crucial for the Sharks going forward and he says his mission is to give Plumtree a headache from the options that will be available to him coming through the youth systems.
“I will be the head of the juniors. I will have to set up the whole junior programme from Under-19s through to Under-21. It will be a passion for me as I was a young guy who came through the Sharks structures at that age,” he said.
“It is about developing players to go into the Sharks senior ranks, to give Plumtree pressure from the bottom up in the sense that hopefully the young guys will put pressure on senior players and hopefully Plum will see guys coming through.”