Sharks' mental wobbles bode badly for play-offs
Poor game management and an alarming lack of intensity have characterised another underwhelming campaign for the Springbok-laden Sharks.
It’s not easy to put the performances of the past few months into perspective.
After all, these are extraordinary times in which top South African players are subjected to a never-ending schedule that runs from July to June.
Local franchises play more games than ever and across two major competitions.
Larger squads are needed to cope with the workload, as well as the challenge of travelling to and from Europe on a regular basis.
Taking the above into account, it’s easy to understand why so few teams win consistently across both competitions.
It’s made me wonder if the critics – myself included – have been too harsh on the South African coaches and players in recent months, given the overall results.
At a glance, the URC log appears to tell a favourable story.
The Bulls sit in third position, and the Sharks in fourth, with four rounds to play.
Both may go on to host a quarterfinal. Even after the shambolic showing against Leinster, the Sharks could surpass the Bulls to finish at the top of the South African pile.
And yet, something isn’t right.
Neither of these top dogs has delivered performances that scream ‘champions in waiting’.
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United Rugby Championship
And while the log may tell a favourable story at this stage, it’s worth exploring some of the results, and what they portend for the play-offs.
Prior to the two-match tour to South Africa, Leinster were undefeated across 16 games staged over the course of the 2024/25 season.
But when they decided to leave most of their Ireland internationals at home for the journey south, they were installed as underdogs ahead of the fixtures at Loftus Versfeld and Kings Park.
Somehow, a team stacked with academy players came within one scrum of upsetting the Bulls.
A week later, a young Leinster side stunned a Springbok-laden Sharks side in Durban.
Forget Leinster’s win-loss record for the season. The two performances in South Africa showed what the coaches and the province are getting right in terms of their tactics and development.
The players also delivered a statement regarding their intensity and character in two tight contests away from home.
By contrast, the South African coaches are getting this balance wrong, and the players – some of them World Cup winners – are failing to fire in the big moments.
This statement seems at odds with the URC log, and the fact that the two South African teams are set to host quarter-finals.
All four local franchises may feature in the top eight for the first time since the tournament’s inception.
But overall, the results across the season highlight some worrying trends.
The Sharks in particular have been alarmingly inconsistent.
The tone was set at the start of the URC, when they went down to Connacht in Galway. Thanks to a late fightback in Newport the following week, they edged the Dragons by three points.
In the wake of those matches, John Plumtree spoke about the Sharks’ mental fragility.
It wasn’t the last time the head coach would highlight a steep drop in intensity and concentration.
Seven days later, the Sharks lost 10-38 to Benetton in Treviso.
Then the narrative changed, after the Sharks claimed four consecutive wins at home.
The 39-21 victory over the Exeter Chiefs marked an emphatic return to the Champions Cup, after a year in the Challenge Cup. Few seemed to care about the decline of Exeter, – who went on to finish last in their pool, and have dropped down to ninth place on the English Premiership table.
The Sharks copped a 17-56 hiding at the hands of Leicester Tigers the following week. Plumtree played the result down, citing the challenge of the never-ending season and the extraordinary travel demands.
Later in the Champions Cup campaign, the Sharks lost 8-20 to Toulouse at home and 12-66 to Bordeaux-Bégles in France.
A stream of excuses followed, many of them valid, at least in terms of the schedule.
The margin of defeat in Bordeaux, however, highlighted a deeper problem.
As soon as things started to go Bordeaux’s way, the Sharks raised the white flag.
A week is a long time in rugby, and the Sharks went on to smash Cardiff in the Welsh capital, and the Bulls at Loftus.
Then the Sharks arrived at Ellis Park. The Lions blew them away in the first half, and went on to win 38-14.
Afterwards, Plumtree questioned the quality of the execution, the intensity and the hunger of his players.
While they bounced back to win their next two URC matches, they struggled to build momentum. The Lions came within four points of an upset at Kings Park, while Italian stragglers Zebre came within two.
The Sharks went into the next game against Leinster as overwhelming favourites – with some betting websites giving the young touring team an eight-point handicap.
Somehow, the most potent attacking South African side in the competition was kept scoreless in the first half.
Somehow a Sharks side stacked with Bok veterans failed to outlast a less experienced Leinster side in the closing stages.
While the result was an upset in isolation, the Sharks performance was consistent with what we’ve seen over the course of the season.
It’s easy to make excuses about the workload and the travel – and we can expect a few of these if the Sharks lose in Lyon this Sunday.
It’s far harder to admit that the game plan is flawed and that the players aren’t performing to their potential for other reasons.
The players certainly aren’t blameless. Some of the Boks and senior players need to be held accountable for their lacklustre performances at franchise level in recent months.
That said, the coaches should be under scrutiny after the team loses in disappointing fashion for the umpteenth time.
Plumtree has fronted the media after every loss, and his message has been consistent.
He has highlighted the challenging schedule, and he has said that the players’ attitude is a problem.
Some have commended his honesty, but after hearing the latter explanation a few times, one starts to wonder what he is doing to address the issue.
I doubt that the South African teams will invest much energy into the Challenge Cup play-offs over the next two weeks.
The coaches won’t want to jeopardise their respective URC ambitions, and right now, the Sharks are in danger of missing out on a home quarter-final.
They may pick up a win on tour and finish their URC league campaign with a flourish, they may go on to claim third spot in the standings, and in the wake of that achievement, they may say that everything has gone more or less to plan.
But for a side with so much quality in depth, the Sharks should be competing in the Champions Cup play-offs, and winning the big URC matches regularly.
Finishing in the top four of the regional competition shouldn’t be hailed as an achievement for a side of this calibre.
They should be aiming higher, and delivering on a more consistent basis, instead of making up the numbers.
There is still time to set things right.
The Sharks could build some momentum by winning in Edinburgh and Belfast when the URC resumes – and do the other South African teams a favour in the process.
The coaches could make a statement by implementing a more balanced approach on the field, and in terms of selection.
But if this season ends with yet another capitulation, no one can say that they didn’t see it coming.
@rugby365com
* Picture credit: Steve Haag Sports
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