After every World Cup rugby goes into a period where the people working in the game start to talk about re-setting and looking at ways to sell it better and the Ospreys and Hollywoodbets Sharks have that in mind as they bring the Vodacom United Rugby Championship to London on Friday.
The two teams agreed to play a match that would normally be scheduled for Swansea at the Harlequins’ home ground of The Stoop. Along with a large contingent of expatriate South Africans still hungover from last weekend’s Springbok triumph it is also anticipated that there will be some locals who will take an interest in a different competition to what they are used to.
🚨CALLING ALL SHARKS FANS IN LONDON🚨
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đź“…3rd November 2023
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Both Sharks coach John Plumtree and his Ospreys counterpart spoke during a Vodacom United Rugby Championship media round table about the need to entertain and the potential to sell the URC to new eyes.
After two rounds where there has been much exciting ball-in-hand rugby and a truckload of spectacular tries, both are hopeful they will be able to put on a show on Friday, even though there is wet weather about that might force a more pragmatic approach as both sides go out to grab important log points.
A MUST WIN FOR DURBANITES
The Sharks in particular will be desperate to win given their tough start to the season, which saw visits to reigning champions Munster and the perennial log winners, Leinster, in the first two weeks.
Plumtree, who started off his coaching career with a five-year stint with Swansea in the late 1990s and early 2000s, would have been eyeing this game as a must win, a task which might have been made a bit easier due to the fact that this is one game one game where the Sharks won’t be disadvantaged by having their Boks away.
That’s because this weekend clashes with a friendly international game between Wales and the Barbarians. Apart from having his Welsh internationals away, Booth is also going to be without his star openside flanker Justin Tipuric, who although now retired from international rugby has been given special dispensation by his employers to play for the Barbarians in a game that is being played in honour of former British and Irish Lions and Wales captain Alun-Wyn Jones.
“Justin cares deeply about his team and as you would have seen in our game last week (a narrow win over Zebre in Parma) he is a player who approaches his 200th game in the same way as he would have his 20th,” said Booth.
“It was a difficult one as Justin is an important player to us, but we understand how much he’d like to play in this game, particularly as it is against Wales, and while the team does come first, we like to consider the needs of the individual too.”
SHARKS’ REINVENTION HAS BEEN NOTED
The Sharks have set themselves the task of reinventing themselves into a more attack orientated team than they have been in the past few seasons, and it was clear from what Booth said that it has already been noticed even though the Sharks have yet to register a log point.
“I wouldn’t want to assume what my Sharks counterpart wants to do, but I think it is clear from their first two games that the Sharks are certainly now a team that wants to play fast and exciting rugby,” said the Ospreys coach.
“If you look at the stats from the early rounds, it appears most of the teams playing in the URC want to be positive. If you look at the likes of Glasgow, there’s some exciting rugby being played with teams being positive so I think we will be in for a quick game on Friday that will hopefully be a good advert for the URC.
“You can’t criticise a coach who finds a way to win a really big game, but you won’t see conservative on Friday if the first games in the competition are anything to go on. We do feel it is our duty to entertain and I think everyone knows about the doom and gloom here in the north, with clubs being financially challenged. We do need to sell the game and my compliments to the people who made the interesting departure from the norm that we will be experiencing on Friday become a reality.”
PLUMTREE WANTS HIS TEAM TO PLAY WITH AMBITION
Plumtree, while acknowledging the possible impact on the weather on his plans, agreed that the game should be an entertaining one.
“Right now, we are not what you would call a big South African team and the Sharks in the past two or three years have played a bit too conservatively for me and I’ve been trying to change that,” said Plumtree.
“We have spoken about playing more positively and being more ambitious. However, it is about finding a balance between running and kicking while also reminding ourselves that the successful Sharks teams in the past have been good defensive teams when at full strength.
“We are coming from a Super Rugby model with our approach, but this part of the world can be different and provide different challenges. It looks like it might be a wet weather game this week and then it could be heaps different when we play our first game against Connacht in Durban in two weeks' time. It might be 29-degree heat and clear.
“So, I don’t like talking too much about how we are going to play, as it does depend on the conditions,” he added.
IT WILL BE AN OCCASION
However, Plumtree said he would like the London fans to be entertained and he is looking forward to it being an occasion.
“One of the pluses for me when I was looking at returning as Sharks coach was the opportunity of being able to play in this part of the world again,” said Plumtree.
“I was at Swansea (Ospreys) for five years and it was my first job so in a way I have mixed emotions that I am not getting a chance to go back to Swansea. That would have been fun. But being in London is lovely. Like Toby said, it is great to bring the URC product to London and hopefully there will a good crowd there.
“I am sure there will be a lot of South Africans there still recovering from the party after the World Cup win but possibly eager to have a beer again after a bit of a break. It will be hard to match the RWC high, those contests were special, particularly the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final. It was nail-biting edge of the seat stuff. It would be a little too much to expect this game to replicate that kind of intenstiy and drama, but both teams will be positive. Hopefully there will be a break in the weather so both sides are able to play positive footy.”
The Sharks will name their team for Friday’s game on Thursday.