Sharks: Contenders or pretenders?

SPOTLIGHT: In the movie On the Waterfront, Marlon Brando’s character Terry Malloy says to his brother: ‘You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender.’

On Saturday, when they host the table-topping Leinster in the United Rugby Championship at home, the Sharks need to step up as contenders and overcome the Irish giants.

The Springbok-laden Sharks is a team brimming with the promise of success, but still, they stutter and struggle to put teams away in a convincing fashion.

There is no denying that coach John Plumtree has the goods on paper to compete with any side in the URC.

Last Saturday against Zebre they had 12 Springboks in their matchday 23.

However, the Durbanites again laboured to put away a side who they were heavy favourites to beat.

A closer look at the statistics paints an interesting picture, one where Plumtree’s side (third) is higher up on the attack stats than Leinster (fifth).

The Sharks have scored 45 tries, with 348 points in the bag. They sport 280 defenders beaten, 104 clean breaks, 5187 metres gained, and 144 offloads.

Leinster’s attack, under the guidance of former Munster flyhalf Tyler Bleyendaal, has scored the second-most tries (54) in the competition, trailing four to Glasgow Warriors’ 58, the most in the competition.

Comparing apples with apples, they have a total of 380 points, 260 defenders beaten, 85 clean breaks, 4639 metres gained, and 138 offloads.

This suggests that attack-wise, the Sharks have the upper hand.

To top that, flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse is the top points scorer in the competition together with Ioan Lloyd (Scarlets) with 101 points, while captain Siya Kolisi’s seven tries are just one less than the top try scorer in the competition, the eight of Johnny Matthews (Glasgow).

Drop your emoji rating for Siya Kolisi’s season so far! 👀🔥⬇️@Vodacom #URC pic.twitter.com/PSRUWAKEp4

— The Sharks (@SharksRugby) March 25, 2025

Following their narrow victory over Zebre, Plumtree indicated how frustrated he was with the mistakes.

“If your skill sets are poor and you can’t build pressure with the ball, win the aerial battles, and dominate the kicking game, it’s going to be a long day at the office.

“The kicking was poor. We weren’t winning our contestable kicks, and that hurt us. We made it easy for them. Our skills were terrible, and that nearly cost us the game.”

This area of the kicking game has cost the Sharks in their losses this season, most notably against Toulouse in the Champions Cup, where they found themselves playing deep in their half with just 34 percent territory.

Leinster prides itself on competing hard in the air with the likes of Ross Byrne, Jordie Barrett, and Ciaran Frawley and they all possess pinpoint long-range kicking games.

Take note, another aerial bombardment is heading straight for Kings Park this Saturday.

The way the Bulls scrum demolished Leinster last Saturday was not lost on the Sharks. They know it is an area they can target.

However, Leinster has brought in Ireland’s record cap holder, Cian Healy as reinforcement.

Following the Bulls game at Loftus coach Leo Cullen conceded that the scrums were their Achilles heel last Saturday due to inexperienced youngsters.

Talking about scrums, those statistics also make for interesting reading.

Both teams have won 87 percent of their scrums, while Leinster has won 27 scrum penalties compared to the Sharks’ 19.

If the Sharks can pull off a win against Cullen’s side, they will set themselves up for a moderately challenging tour where they will face Edinburgh before heading home where they host Ospreys (May 9) and Scarlets (May 17)