They lost in Dublin and conceded more than 50 points, but the last two games the Cell C Sharks have played have suggested a significant turning point for the franchise back towards their assumed traditional DNA.
Against both Leinster at the RDS Arena and in their most recent Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with Glasgow Warriors in Durban, the Sharks showed an enterprise on attack that will bring the fans flooding back to Kings Park if that approach is sustained.
Yes, the Sharks do have defensive issues, and those were glaringly exposed by Leinster the previous week, while the Warriors exploited both systemic and individual error in the buildup to their first try to flanker Tom Gordon. It wasn’t costly, with the Sharks winning 40-12 as their star-studded bench predictably made the big impact expected in the second half, but those could be problematic in tighter games, including against a good team like Ulster, who visit Kings Park this coming weekend.
While on the subject of individual defensive errors, Aphelele Fassi’s little slip which is what the individual error comment referred to, was not isolated. As good as the Sharks fullback is on attack, and he really is nothing short of sublime, he does miss too many tackles. And if you want his non-inclusion in the Bok squad explained, that probably is it, so that is an aspect of his game Fassi needs to work on.
But Fassi is a stand-out in a supremely skilled Sharks attacking unit, with the second half, in particular, producing an example of the type of flowing possession-orientated rugby that has been notably absent for much of the time since the first Covid lockdown put paid to what was shaping as a very promising first Super Rugby season for coach Sean Everitt in 2020.
There has been a seismic shift from the Sharks in their approach and with Boeta Chamberlain excelling in his all-round game and staking a strong claim to continue as the Sharks' No 10 even when Curwin Bosch and Lionel Cronje are fit, it was difficult not to mull over what was different.
This may seem simplistic, but it is nonetheless worth thinking about: Chamberlain was more often than not having the ball passed to him by scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, instead of Hendrikse launching a contestable kick. And when Hendrikse did pass it, Chamberlain didn’t do what Sharks flyhalves have been wont to do in the last two seasons, by stepping back into the pocket and readying himself to launch the ball into the heavens himself.
It may be a challenge for the Sharks to eschew the contestable kicking approach in the humid summer months, when every game in Durban is like a wet weather game. And to be fair to the Sharks, that is probably where the obsession with contestable kicking started.
But this past weekend and the weekend before that, there has been a clear change in direction, one helped no doubt by the arrival of Eben Etzebeth and the return of several Bok forwards to the mix.
“When you do well in the lineouts it provides a good foundation for your attacking game,” explained Everitt afterwards.
At the time, he was lauding Etzebeth’s contribution. The Springbok made a mess of the Warriors’ lineout ball in the first half, and he and Hyron Andrews were also always comfortable in winning the Sharks’ own ball. If you have a sound platform up front, then the attacking game can click into place, and even though they were without Rohan Janse van Rensburg and continue to miss the precocious attacking talents of Lukhanyo Am, the Sharks slipped into an attacking mode that should be a loud warning for future opponents not just in the URC but also the European Champions Cup.
Makazole Mapimpi only came on late in the game, but the Sharks have too much talent at the back for it to be ignored and Saturday was an indication that the Durbanites look set to be crowd-pleasers as well as potential winners in the season ahead. The pioneer of what was formerly Natal’s reputation as the running province, the late Izak van Heerden, can perhaps now finally stop rolling in his grave.
It wasn’t a complete performance from the Sharks against Glasgow, and there were issues around their mauling as well as their defence in the first half. But when you make changes and are introducing new players and reintroducing others, you don’t expect everything to go off seamlessly.
It was though overall a good performance and the perfect warmup for Saturday’s seismic Kings Park clash with Ulster, one that will tell us a lot more about where exactly this Sharks’ team is placed in their quest for silverware in the 2022-23 season.