VIDEO: Powell's 'bottom up' approach as Plumtree gets ready to step in
Sharks Director of Rugby Neil Powell said setting up a ‘process’ to turn the Durban-based franchise into a champion team will take time – ‘a year or two’.
It will also involve less ‘buying’ and a lot more ‘building’.
Speaking after the Sharks exited at the quarterfinal stage in both European competitions – the Champions Cup and United Rugby Championship – Powell unpacked the way forward.
Despite fielding a legion of Springboks on the European stages, the Sharks lost comprehensively to Stade Toulousain (20-54) in the European Cup and Leinster (5-35) in the URC at the last eight stages.
Powell admitted that the Sharks as a team is not close to where they want to be.
However, that could all change dramatically when New Zealander John Plumtree returns for a second stint as their head coach.
Powell – who took over the reins as head coach from Sean Everitt midway through the season – will revert to his Director of Rugby role, with Plumtree arriving to take over the coaching duties from July 1.
The Sharks boss said management will look to ‘align’ everybody on the way forward.
While Plumtree coaches the senior team on the European stages, Powell will put his time and effort into making sure they get real value out of their Academy.
“We have to develop guys to be a lot better,” the Director of Rugby said, adding: “When the first-choice players are not available, the second choice must be almost as good.
(Article continues below Neil Powell interview …)
“That will be the focus for us at the Sharks.
“We have to build a system where there is depth.
“We have to build an Academy and an institute where we fill the senior side from the bottom up and not from the top [down].
“That is a long-term plan and hopefully we get that right in the next two to three years to ensure we have a system that is sustainable and better squad depth so that no matter what 23 we put on the field, they are still a very good side.”
Powell said once he steps back from coaching and focuses on his position as Director of Rugby, he will be responsible for the system and ensure they bring quality through the academy.
“It is important to make sure we are aligned about the way forward as coaches, before we take it to the players, ” he said about deciding what is the ‘Sharks way’.
Asked about Plumtree’s arrival in July, Powell said he would be a “little less hands-on” with the senior team.
“My responsibility will be to look after the systems [at the Sharks] and ensure we have that sustainability, ensure we coach the right things at the Academy, ensure we get the right players in and bring players through the system into the senior side.
“John [Plumtree] will be a lot more hands-on.”
Powell added that the great thing about John Plumtree is that he has played and coached in Durban.
“He understands the conditions, environment and culture of the team.
“Plumtree is very experienced as a coach and that is what the Sharks need at this point.”
The Sharks boss said there are positives to build on for the future, but it is also an opportunity for us to ensure they get things right from the start.
He explained that a longer off-season and pre-season would allow them to establish a solid foundation for ‘years to come’.
“We know, as a system and a team, we are not close to where we want to be,” Powell said.
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