If the Hollywoodbets Sharks don’t pick up several aspects of their game in their final Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour match against Benetton at the weekend they could be in danger of sparking talk of the URC being a bogey competition for them.
Coach John Plumtree spoke about the need to start well this time around after last season’s poor start created the negative momentum that led to an abysmal 14th placed finish. It did go well in the first half of their first game of the season, with a 27-7 lead over Connacht in Galway an accurate summation of their potential, even at a stage when still under-strength due to Springbok calls.
However, the Sharks lost their way in the second half of that game, and while the drive and commitment they showed in combing back from a 22-5 deficit against the Dragons in Newport in their most recent game underlined the growth in their team culture, they haven’t played well enough to satisfy their coach.
The Sharks conspired against themselves with some poor discipline and a slow start, with that latter part being an identifiable area of concern. Even though they were good overall in the first half in Galway, even there they were slow out of the blocks, as they were in the games in the Carling Currie Cup that they used as their preparation for the new URC season.
They’ve made a habit of coming from behind to win, and winning late, with their last three wins effectively being secured with late scores, but of course Plumtree would prefer them not to stress him out like that in every game they play.
COMMON THEME COMING OUT OF PRESS CONFERENCES
And after the Newport game, some of the things he said in the post-match press conference were reminiscent of what he would have said last season, and was a common theme from coaches who came before him (Sean Everitt and Robert du Preez the most recent examples).
“I thought we were pretty passive tonight and lacked urgency. We’ve got stuff to fix in that space. We didn’t really execute our plan,” said Plumtree.
“Our discipline was poor, and we allowed them to apply scoreboard pressure. So it’s not good. I think the only positive for me is that we managed to stay in the contest the whole way. We found some moments where we were able to score a try and stay in the game, and we were pretty lucky to just get the win.”
Indeed, they were, although you could probably say that of their two winning Currie Cup play-off games too. Which will be Plumtree’s concern - although his team is finding a way to win, which is what champion teams do, they should really be dealing more comfortably with the likes of the Dragons.
On paper at least they face a tougher game on Saturday in Treviso, as Benetton came into the competition as one of the teams expected to continue a strong upward graph trend in their performance. But it hasn’t turned out that way yet for Benetton, who were well beaten by Glasgow Warriors in the second week and were again outplayed, this time at home, by Leinster.
Plumtree would always have known that winning the Currie Cup would create an additional challenge for his players, as it is natural for a trophy to lead to an emotional high that it is difficult to just cast aside. Perhaps that is what he meant when he referred to the team not being emotionally where he wanted them: “We’ve got a lot of work to do around our game, not just from a physical point of view, but also from an emotional point of view”.
What Plumtree will need on Saturday is the kind of comprehensive win that will get his players thinking “Hey, we can do as well in the URC as we do in the Currie Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup if we get it together.” Another poor performance and it will start looking like they carry a bit of a jinx when it comes to the URC.