The Hollywoodbets Sharks’ two match Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour that starts in Edinburgh will do more than just determine whether they finish in the top for on the log, it will also make it clearer whether this season has been a success for them or another failure.
The Durban franchise has been in the doldrums arguably since current coach John Plumtree had his first stint as Sharks coach ended by the then new incoming CEO John Smit in July 2013.
There have been Currie Cup wins since then, one even in that very season that Plumtree parted ways with the union, but because of the under-strength nature of it the domestic competition doesn’t have the currency it used to have.
It is what you do in the international competitions that matters, and there, the only exception to the general rule of Sharks failure over the 13 years since the Sharks, under Plumtree, last played a Super Rugby final (against the Chiefs in 2012), was the last Covid-interrupted season in that competition (2020).
Frankly it didn’t go long enough to really tell us whether Sean Everitt’s Sharks were going to break their duck.
The Sharks did win the EPCR Champions Cup last season but it was really only a means to getting out of a hole, meaning the only route open to qualification for the main EPCR competition was the Investec Champions Cup. Any season where you finish second-last in the URC, which really is the bread and butter competition for the South African franchises competing overseas, cannot possibly be deemed a success.
SHIELD WAS MEASURE OF PROGRESS
The Sharks added another trophy to the Kings Park cabinet when they won the Currie Cup in the pre-season, but arguably the biggest measure of the improvement they have made this season was their winning of the SA Shield in the URC.
They’d lost all their derby games the year before, so their win over the DHL Stormers, their first in the competition against the Cape side, at the end of November was a breakthrough moment for them in more ways than one.
So there is no argument against there being an improvement from the Sharks this season. That is just a fact if you look at their achievement in the Shield and also their current fourth position overall. Apart from beating the Stormers at home, they also beat the Vodacom Bulls in both games they played against their Pretoria rivals.
And back in November there was also a strong whiff of brewing success. The win over the Stormers ended a sequence of games where they played all three previous winners of the URC, the other teams being Glasgow Warriors and Munster, and they won them all.
All those games though were at home, and although the second string Leinster team eroded a bit of the aura that was being developed, Hollywoodbets Kings Park is becoming a fortress for them.
TWO TOUR WINS SHOULD BE THE EXPECTATION
When it comes to away games, however, and particularly games outside of South Africa (although not only those if you think of the humiliating defeat they suffered at the hands of the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg), it’s been a different story.
Like all the South African teams, what they lack is a good solid win over a top team overseas, which is why this tour is so important. Edinburgh and Ulster away are both tough obstacles, but wins at both venues should not be beyond the Sharks if they hope to compete for what their coach has described as “a big trophy”.
One of the factors that has tripped up the Sharks this season is lack of continuity brought about by their much publicised and lamented injury crisis and there is one point about the Sharks that has to be taken into consideration in any analysis on where they stand: They hardly, if ever, lose when Eben Etzebeth is playing for them. At least this season they haven’t.
Unfortunately for them Etzebeth has been out since early December, and he was soon joined on the sidelines by several other top Springboks. Any team would be set back by those kind of player losses.
NO ROOM FOR EXCUSES NOW
However Etzebeth is back for this tour. So is Aphelele Fassi and so is Lukhanyo Am. Andre Esterhuizen, such a big factor in the Sharks’ improvement this year, has also been back now for a few weeks after missing a large chunk of the middle part of the season.
The Sharks effectively have a full strength squad for this tour, which means the time for making excuses is over.
Edinburgh do have a few overseas internationals to complement their Scotland representatives, but Scotland are way below the Boks on the World Rugby rankings. The Sharks team is loaded with Boks, and that means World Cup winners, so the team sheets don’t compare favourably from an Edinburgh viewpoint.
Playing away is always tough, and the home team invariably grows an extra arm and leg when at their headquarters. But given the pedigree on the Sharks team sheet, they shouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than a win in either of their two overseas games. If they aren’t successful on this tour, it will be hard to argue that the season has been a success to go with the recognised improvement.
That is why it is season defining time for them - the graph was on an upward trajectory, but ever since the Lions setback that came in the game that followed a remarkable win at Loftus, that graph has plateaued and even dipped. That needs to be set right over the next two weeks.
Remaining Hollywoodbets Sharks URC league fixtures
Edinburgh (Edinburgh, Friday 8:35pm)
Ulster (Belfast, Saturday 26 April, 8:35pm)
Ospreys (Durban, Friday 9 May, 7pm)
Scarlets (Durban, Saturday 17 May, 7:30pm)