URC: Work gets in way of celebrations as Sharks start tough

On this day the week after their historic first ever Currie Cup triumph in 1990, the Sharks, then known as Natal and captained by Craig Jamieson and coached by Ian McIntosh, feasted on the adulation of the Durban crowds during an open-top bus tour.

It was the first such celebration of its type and marked the status of the domestic competition at that time. However, times have changed, and the modern version of that team, the Hollywoodbets Sharks, have completed any celebrations of that province’s ninth Carling Currie Cup triumph and are busy preparing for what they will consider the real deal - the opening to their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign.

That comes on Saturday against tough Connacht, who only just lost away to Munster last week and are notoriously tough to crack on their home field. Such opponents demand a focused buildup, and the three-match tour is a tough one, with the Connacht game being followed by clashes with the Dragons and Benetton.

TOUGH TASK AHEAD

The Sharks did beat the Dragons at Rodney Parade last season but the hosts of the middle game in their tour did sound a warning of their intentions for the new campaign when they opened with an unexpected victory against the Ospreys last weekend. And Benetton, like Italian rugby in general, are growing and becoming more of a force. They nearly beat the Vodacom Bulls in an away URC quarterfinal last season so they will be particularly tough at home.

It is all of this, coupled with the fact the Sharks return home to play the two URC champion teams of the last two seasons, the Glasgow Warriors and Munster, in successive weeks later in October, that had their coach John Plumtree, one of the playing heroes of the 1990 triumph, wondering if he really wanted his team to play in the domestic final.

Once there he had to give it a full go, but if the rumoured Springbok camp happens before the end-of-year tour, the Sharks will be without their Boks against the Warriors and Munster too, meaning that the group that won the Currie Cup in such exciting fashion last week effectively has five weeks of back-to-back big games added on to the two tough Currie Cup playoff games that drew on them both emotionally and physically.

Plumtree admits that getting his players back down from the emotional and physical expenditure of both Loftus and Emirates Airline Park is his toughest task this week. He knows the URC is the bread and butter of his and his franchise’s existence, and after last season’s poor start led to calamity and a 14th-placed finish, he knows his men have to hit the new campaign running.

CONFIDENCE BOOST

Will the way the Currie Cup ended help or damage his team’s URC chances? The answer to that question from an exhaustion and potential fatigue element will only be known a few games into the run of five successive matches, but what Plumtree does know is that heading to Galway off a Currie Cup final win was much better for the confidence than the alternative.

“Winning right at the end of the game is one of the moments that gives us confidence,” said Plumtree.

“To have gone to Joburg for the final, lost and then hop on a plane for Ireland wouldn’t have been great, but fortunately that’s not the case. So, we will all cherish the memory, everyone who had a hand in getting us to the end.

“We’ve found belief but it’s going to be tough emotionally and physically getting off this high. The other job for me now is getting the players back down to earth because we know what a tough game we have in Galway. Connacht will be waiting for us, they’ll be excited about playing at home.”

Understandably, the 27-man squad for the tour is dominated by Currie Cup-winning players, with Jason Jenkins, the former Leinster and Bulls player and capped Springbok, the notable addition after recovering from the ailment that kept him from being part of the squad for the final. Jenkins was to have made his debut in Johannesburg but is now in line to do so in Galway, a place he might be better acquainted with than most of his teammates after he played there so often for Leinster.

FRESH TALENT

The Currie Cup has helped deliver new talent to Plumtree, most notably scrumhalf Bradley Davids and centre Jurenzo Julius, both of whom are in the tour group, as is Ethan Hooker, the scorer of an important Sharks try in the final.

With the Boks away for the foreseeable future, Currie Cup-winning captain Vincent Tshituka is likely to continue as skipper, with his brother Emmanuel being joined by Ruan Dreyer and Jordan Hendrikse, who looks really good as a fullback, among the clutch of players recruited in the off-season from the Lions. That franchise is replacing the Cheetahs, who fulfilled the role in a previous era, as the breeding ground for Sharks stars.

Hollywoodbets Sharks touring squad:

Forwards: Corne Rahl, Dylan Richardson, Emmanuel Tshituka, Ethan Bester, Fez Mbatha, Gerbrandt Grobler, Hanro Jacobs, James Venter, Jason Jenkins, Mawande Mdanda, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Ruan Dreyer, Tino Mavesere, Trevor Nyakane, Vincent Tshituka.

Backs: Andre Esterhuizen, Bradley Davids, Cameron Wright, Eduan Keyter, Ethan Hooker, Francois Venter, Gershwin Wehr, Jordan Hendrikse, Jurenzo Julius, Lionel Cronje, Siya Masuku, Tian Meyer.

Vodacom United Rugby Championship tour fixtures:

Connacht, Galway, Saturday 28 September 8.35pm

Dragons, Newport, Saturday 5 October 6.15pm

Benetton, Treviso, Saturday 12 October 4pm