They’ve changed their name and their branding during the off-season and added some important IP to their brains trust in the form of Rory Duncan, who comes in as the Chief of Staff, and new attack coach Scott Mathie, but there’s another important shift from this time last year for the Hollywoodbets Sharks - they’ve had a full complement of players participating in the pre-season.
Last September the now former Sharks coach John Plumtree had bare bones to work with. A visit to Kings Park to watch a training session unveiled the alarming reality that Plumtree had just eight fit players. And this was just three weeks before the first Vodacom United Rugby Championship game.
Plumtree had to go cap in hand to, among others, the Airlink Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse to ask for reinforcements. Reinforcements that were only available to him as the competitive season started, so hardly enough time to assimilate them properly into the team environment and the playing systems.
SMALL WONDER PLUMTREE STRUGGLED
Looking back, it is small wonder that Plumtree struggled, and much of the blame for his early departure can be blamed at the same source that contributed to a revolving door of Sharks coaches through the offices at Kings Park over several seasons - a dysfunctional system when it came to recruitment and retention. To put it simply, the coach would sometimes have felt he was from Venus and working with a recruitment head who was from Mars.
That’s changed and the winds of change are blowing through the Durban club, who after many false starts would be right to temper their own expectations and those of their supporters. If ever there was a club that has under-performed and underwhelmed, it is the Sharks, with their low finishes in the URC standings often belying the talent they have on their books.
There is more depth now though, or at least it appears that way, with Thomas du Toit, the Springbok prop, the only marquee addition to a squad that has lost, among others, Siya Kolisi, Grant Williams and, on a temporary basis, Aphelele Fassi, plus since this time last year another experienced Bok in Lukhanyo Am has also departed.
The point though is that instead of bringing in a few star players, the Sharks have brought in several players who will be good squad players while not likely to be whisked away on Bok duty as has been the case in the past. There will still be a big difference between the Sharks’ first choice team and their second string, but then the same can be said about the Stormers and Bulls, who both now have more current Boks on their books than the Sharks do.
MULTI-PRONGED LEADERSHIP GROUP
Recognising the need to drive a team culture and identity that can survive transitions between the periods when the Boks are present and when they are not, the Sharks have come up with a novel multi-pronged leadership group. While Bok centre/hybrid and now captain Andre Esterhuizen will continue as the club captain, there are additional club captains in Vincent Koch and Phepsi Buthelezi and co-captains in the form of Emile van Heerden, Vincent Tshituka and Nick Hatton.
The last mentioned is just 23 but already has plenty of captaincy experience, much of it as the Sharks XV Currie Cup captain when he was not yet 21. Hatton, who might have made his name as a cricketer had he not chosen to focus on rugby, has also in his short career seen it all in terms of the bumpy road the Sharks have been on over the past few seasons.
So it was understandable when asked if a new era beckoned for the Sharks as they head into JP Pietersen’s first full season as head coach, he tempered his enthusiasm with a bit of caution.
“There’s a lot of excitement, certainly,” he said. “In this pre-season, the big group we’ve had and then guys joining from the Currie Cup, it’s really exciting where we’re going,” said the No 8.
“In the pre-season, we’ve been challenged a lot by the coaches in terms of stuff we’re trying to do on the field. And then as players, we’re trying to challenge each other off it. We’re not the Sharks team we want to be yet, but we’re trying to become a Sharks team with a DNA in the way we want to play and the way we want to be as a squad. I think we’re certainly heading in the right direction. It’s just really important now going into the season that we do our best to show that on the pitch.”
RUGBY BECOMING A BIGGER FOCUS
The need for a recognisable DNA has long been a problem at the Sharks, where there has been a tendency to focus too much on the commercial and social media aspects of the business without there being enough focus on the rugby aspects. Hatton will play a key role in helping the Sharks establish the identity that has been absent over the past few years.
“It’s a long season and we need a strong leadership group. We’re all trying to just drive the standards of the club and drive the culture. We’ve worked hard as a squad in the pre-season to build our culture and build our cohesion and spend a lot of time together. So we’re just trying to drive that culture and ensure the standards on and off the field are driven and shown well.”
The Sharks open their 2026/2027 URC campaign against the Welsh team, the Ospreys, at Kings Park on Saturday afternoon. The team for the first match will be announced on Thursday.