The world class Springbok loosehead prop Ox Nche has given a ringing endorsement for the work that has been done across several levels of the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ organisation to get the different tiers of the organisation more aligned and sweep in cultural and playing style changes.
Speaking in the buildup to Saturday’s first major test the Sharks, who are currently top of the Vodacom URC log after winning two games with bonus points, will face when they travel to Cape Town on Saturday to face what should be a Springbok laden Stormers team, Nche said that there has been a noticeable difference this season in comparison with when the Boks returned previously.
“I think we are in a space now where we are not just saying words, we are doing what we say,” said Nche.
“There’s a lot of action now and more belief (in what we are doing). It feels like we are all more aligned. I am enjoying it. There a big difference (in vibe) from previous seasons.”
There’s been a lot of talk about playing style and identification and DNA in the buildup to the new season and rightly so.
There was a feeling in recent seasons that the Sharks were expending too much energy on the necessary marketing aspect of the game and not enough on the rugby side of the business, but it does feel from the outside that the Sharks, who made important structural changes to their management system in the off-season, are finally doing what Rassie Erasmus would suggest they do - they are making rugby the main thing.
MONGALO PINPOINTED BETTER ALIGNMENT OF MANAGEMENT LEVELS
The better alignment brought about by the appointment of former Cheetahs coach, director of rugby and CEO Rory Duncan was something alluded to by Sharks defence coach Joey Mongalo in the buildup to the game against Leinster.
“If you look back it has become almost traditional that there is a heck of a lot of change at the Sharks, with six different head coaches and 30 different assistant coaches employed by the Sharks over the last decade,” said Mongalo.
“What has happened is there has been a holistic look at the Sharks as a system and the main parts that were proving problematic are being addressed. We now have a general manager in Dave Williams who was a Sharks assistant coach, so he has worked at the coalface in rugby, and we have Rory Duncan as our chief of staff.
“So there is now an upper layer of rugby people that make it possible for JP (head coach JP Pietersen) and his assistant coaches to do their thing. We now have direct access to the systems and the people who are doing the recruiting.
"We have also welcomed some experienced Sharks men, like Thomas du Toit and Stefan Lewies, back into the system and they are joining the likes of Phepsi Buthelezi in leading the way for the young players and showing them what it means to be playing for the Sharks.
“It will take time,” he warned, “but already it feels a lot better this season that it did last year and I really believe we will see the fruits of this labour realised in a couple of years. I think that (a few years in the future) will be when we reach our high point.”
Mongalo was talking after a performance against the Ospreys where there had been a noticeable change to the Sharks’ energy and a good mix of physicality and the sublime off-loading skills that saw the Sharks score some good tries in that game.
There was a similar mix in the Leinster game, with the Sharks struggling to break down the barn door with their strong forward assault - Leinster do after all have Jacques Nienaber as their defence coach - but settling the game with X-factor moments featuring Eben Etzebeth and Edwill van der Merwe.
A LOT OF TALK AROUND DNA
Listening to Nche speak, it is clear that DNA and identity have been subjects discussed within the Sharks’ group and that it shone through with the physical emphasis to the Sharks’ defence against Leinster.
“There is a big focus on us to be physical, we are not just using words we also want to be able to apply it. I think it should be becoming evident of what the DNA of this team is,” said Nche.
“We want to get the DNA across, not just hear it spoken about. We actually want to see it. And I think that is happening now.”
HAVING A PROPER PRE-SEASON HAS HELPED
What has helped the Sharks, and here the structural changes that did away with a recruitment department that was invariably on a different page to head coaches like John Plumtree and Sean Everitt has been the magic fix that should have happened years ago, is that for once the head coach had enough players to conduct a proper pre-season.
Last year Plumtree was working with just eight fit players at one stage, and that was a month before the URC was due to start, but according to scrum coach Philip Lemmer, this past pre-season had the numbers available to make the work that was put in meaningful.
“Having a proper pre-season does help a lot. It was helpful to set the standards, to have guys going against each other and working together according to those standards. If you do that the results and the stats will take care of themselves,” said Lemmer.
There is of course a big test for the Sharks’ mini-renaissance coming up in Cape Town on Saturday but Lemmer says the team is relishing the prospect of playing against a good Stormers team.
“Whether they have their Boks or no Boks the Stormers are a great team. They are playing at home and will have a big crowd behind them. We want to measure ourselves against the best.”
They will also be measuring themselves against a club that got the culture and game identity, plus the science of recruitment, right a long time ago. The talk of DNA and identity echoes the narrative around the Stormers in the first season of the URC, when they won the inaugural competition.
There's no crime in copying what works.