The Cell C Sharks missed out on Heineken Champions Cup qualification, a calamitous consequence of their mixed-up season in the two international competitions. They arrogantly proclaimed last year that winning the HCC was their main focus, but you have to produce in the primary competition, the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, in order to qualify.
Munster ruined a few South African dreams this past season, with the DHL Stormers left to reflect on what might have been a championship-winning campaign in the URC had it not been for Munster’s tigerish display in the decider. And it was the Munster fightback from a 19-point deficit to force the draw that prevented the Sharks from making it to next season’s HCC.
The Sharks played their last game of the cross-hemisphere season when they were easily knocked out of the URC at the quarterfinal stage by Leinster, thus ending a campaign where on several occasions questions were asked about the depth of talent available to the coastal franchise.
PERHAPS THERE WAS A COACHING PROBLEM
Post the URC and HCC seasons though, a different perspective is emerging - perhaps the Sharks haven’t suffered as much from a talent perspective as they have from a coaching one. That’s not a criticism of Sean Everitt, who was in my personal view precipitously and unfairly axed in the early part of the season, or for that matter, Neil Powell.
The latter definitely wasn’t helped by Everitt’s departure. Powell was still preparing the Blitzboks for the Sevens World Cup when the Sharks were in their pre-season, and that is when most of a coach’s preparation for the new season is done. Not having coached the 15-man code for a long time or ever on an extensive basis, Powell was on a hiding to nothing.
In Everitt’s case, the carpet was taken out from under him when the American equity partners arrived on the Durban scene and their weighty cheque book lured the likes of Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and World Cup-winning hooker Bongi Mbonambi away from the Stormers. Everitt had worked with what was considered a rich new generation of talent coming through at age-group level and he made promises to those players that he was unable to keep.
Everitt had told supersport.com on a couple of occasions that his game template made a traditional openside ball fetcher/scavenger a prerequisite, but you don’t leave out a Bok captain if he is on your books. Kolisi started slowly before flourishing later on and when he was injured it was a big loss to the Durbanites, but that isn’t the point - the point is that when players are put on a certain track and promises are made, the culture and unity is undermined when what is promised isn’t delivered.
A DECADE OF UNCERTAINTY AND INCONSISTENCY
And there is no denying that the culture at the Sharks was heading down a precipitous path into the murky waters of Durban harbour before it was announced that John Plumtree was returning for a second stint as coach. The Kiwi takes over on 1 July and it is the fervent hope of the rugby-loving people of KZN that it will end a decade of turmoil and inconsistency that started on the day that Plumtree got axed.
Here is the roll call of coaches that the Sharks have used in the 10 years since Plumtree made his exit: Plumtree, Brad Macloed-Henderson, Brendan Venter, Jake White, Gary Gold, Robert du Preez, Everitt and Powell. There have been an estimated 38 different assistant coaches used in that period.
You could go further and point to the conveyor belt of different CEO’s too - after Brian van Zyl made his exit after decades of successful service, the Sharks saw John Smit, Gary Teichmann and Eduard Coetzee take up the top decision-making positions at the union/franchise.
Some of those were chosen based on what they did in their stellar playing careers and both Smit and Teichmann will probably tell you now that when they agreed to do the job they had no clue what it entailed. There would be a good argument for both those figures being potentially good directors of rugby, in other words, closer to the coalface of what they knew when they were players.
A REVIVAL OF SORTS
But here we are coming into the last weeks of the 2022-23 season and a revival of sorts on the field has accompanied the announcement of Plumtree’s return. No one will pretend that the Carling Currie Cup is what it used to be. For two of the four URC franchises, meaning Sharks and Stormers, it is a vehicle for developing their wider squad for that competition, nothing more than that.
Still, what Joey Mongalo has done with the Sharks Currie Cup team, who go into their final league game against Western Province with a two-point lead at the top of the log, has been impressive. And he has been given due recognition by being appointed as the defence coach of Plumtree’s new look management/coaching team.
Mongalo has fulfilled that role in his previous employment so it makes far more sense for him to fill that position than Warren Whiteley, who has been switched to a new role with the forwards. What Mongalo has on Powell is his years of coaching the 15-man game, and the Sharks’ results, with the turnaround probably starting with an important first-round win over WP in Durban in late March, have been impressive. So has been the rugby they have been playing.
Some of the Sharks’ recruitment at playing level has been abysmal in the last 10 years. In fact, much of it has been. You might say the same about the recruitment of coaches. The coaching team that headed the Sharks this past season had a United Nations flavour to it, with several foreigners in the group, but it didn’t appear that too much thought had been put into it.
The new group looks functional, with David Williams, who perhaps did his best work in tandem with Deon Davids at the Kings five or six year ago, a welcome addition as attack coach.
Plumtree has a harder job getting the Sharks right than many people may realise. If you speak to people behind the scenes, they will tell you they don’t believe there is an overnight fix that will suddenly get the culture right.
But he is certainly being helped by what the man who has been appointed as his assistant coach has been doing with the Currie Cup team. You can’t use form in the domestic competition as a complete gauge of where you are going, but the Sharks’ form in the Currie Cup has been a positive step in the right direction.
Sharks’ coaching structure for 2023/2024:
Director of Rugby: Neil Powell
Head Coach: John Plumtree
Defence: Joey Mongalo
Attack: Dave Williams
Forwards: Warren Whiteley and Philip Lemmer
Kicking and exits: Phiwe Nomlomo