A year ago the Hollywoodbets Sharks were languishing in 14th position on the Vodacom United Rugby Championship log and were last in the South African Shield after losing all their derby matches.
Now they are fourth, with a game in hand on the teams ahead of them, and they are challenging strongly for the trophy that will signify them as the best local team.
It’s not done yet, of course, and if the Emirates Lions repeat what they did last year and win both Saturday’s derby in Johannesburg and the return match in Durban seven days later, the Sharks’ derby record will be middling and an improvement rather than exceptional, and they won’t have the Shield trophy as an indicator of their overall growth from where they were.
But that growth should be obvious for all to see, and for the Durbanites there was a clear moment when they started their turnaround - it came in the EPCR Challenge Cup semifinal against Clermont-Auvergne in London last May.
It wasn’t so much that they won that game, for after all it was nominally their home game even though the Twickenham Stoop is many thousands of kilometres from Hollywoodbets Kings Park, but the way they did it.
They were in trouble in the first half and on the brink of being blown away but hung in through the boot of Siya Masuku. They then won the clutch moments in the second half.
The players had to dig deep, and they’ve done that several times subsequently, most notably in two URC derbies against the Bulls and in the deciding moments of the Carling Currie Cup season.
CLEARLY IDENTIFIABLE PROBLEM AREA
Looking at how the Sharks have transformed from a team with a poor culture to one in which the players play for one another as if their lives depend on it, you have to go back to what their new coach John Plumtree saw as a clearly identifiable problem area when he arrived for his second stint as Sharks mentor (he also coached them between 2008 and 2013).
“It is not just about having talent. The players want to dig in for each other and this the added bonus. If we don’t have that we are never going to be the side that we want to be,” said Plumtree after announcing a team for the Lions match that wasn’t much changed from the group that dug deep to beat the Bulls two weeks ago.
“When I came back to the Sharks, I recognised that they did not have that connection and we worked on it and now they have it.”
For Plumtree, the growth of the “connection” he refers to was best exemplified by a moment in the Bulls game where Jordan Hendrikse, who might have considered himself the frontline place-kicker, handed over the duties to Masuku.
“That is a good example of what I am referring to, the willingness of Jordan Hendrikse to hand over the kicking duties to Siya Masuku,” Plumtree explained.
“Jordan wasn’t happy after he missed two and gave the ball to Siya who then slotted one from the touchline. They worked that out for themselves and it goes down how we are as a team and how the players relate to each other.
“Jordan wasn’t feeling happy about his kicking and wanted to hand it over to Siya. That is what you want. I didn’t have to send out a message. I backed Jordan to get his kicking right and credit to them for resolving it among themselves…
“For me it is about where the team is at right now. The boys want to do well for each other. We know that in any team environment, that is the key ingredient. When you have a group that is willing to go hard for each other you are going to do well.
"We have done a lot around our team connections, stuff around having fun with each other and building friendships. When you are playing with your mates you are going to go that extra mile because you care about them.”
BEAT BULLS THE HARD WAY
At no time has the willingness of the team to play for one another and for the jersey been better exemplified than in the games across both the URC and the domestic final against the Bulls where they were under the cosh and down on numbers because of yellow cards and yet somehow managed to prevail.
“We don’t want to be in the situation when we have those yellow cards and they guys have to dig deep," said Plumtree.
“I had a bit of a giggle when I saw Jake (White) said the cards helped us in that last game. I certainly didn’t think so and I didn’t enjoy being down to 12 men. We also got it tactically wrong in the lineouts and our scrum suffered.
"I don’t think the yellows helped us at all. It is a situation we want to avoid in future.”
However, he does acknowledge that getting through as winners when the dice was loaded against them has helped the team’s confidence. And the derby form, with just the Stormers game in Cape Town as a blemish on their record, has been the biggest signifier of the Sharks’ turnaround from where they were last season.
“Winning the last three games has been great. Last year we won no derby games, Now we have three and have a couple to go. Confidence comes from preparing well and performing the game plan.
"If you get the win then it is ‘job done’, then you go back to Durban and work on the next job.
Confidence is not necessarily about the result - confidence can float in and out if you don’t prepare well and get yourself ready.”
NEED TO IMPROVE TO WIN ‘MINI TEST SERIES’
Plumtree was pleased with the win over the Bulls but feels his team are going to have to deliver a much improved performance on this latest assignment on the highveld if they want to prevail again.
“After a few days off last week we have had to work hard this week to be confident to go up there and do this job because we were far from perfect against the Bulls and we are going to have to be better to beat this team. The Lions are under pressure for a result. We know it is going to be a tough field.
“The Lions showed over the season that they are a very dangerous side. You underestimate then at your peril and some teams have fallen into that trap but we certainly haven’t. They did a double last year in the derby games and are capable of knocking over anyone at Ellis Park.
"We probably have more respect for them than they might have for us. It is going to be a good contest. Our forwards know they are in for a battle.
“Playing them back to back is quite unique and I love it. It is not often you have this. It provides a different element, playing home and away. We will learn about each other there in the first game, it is like a mini-test series.”