Plumtree addresses Sharks dire start to the season after shock flop
The Sharks will return home from their four-match European tour still winless and with a solitary bonus point to show for their month-long venture at the start of the United Rugby Championship.
The Durban-based outfit, in arguably their worst-ever start to a season, is stuck at the foot of the table – below other winless teams like the Dragons and Lions.
Their losses to Irish giants Munster (21-34) and Leinster (13-34) were almost expected – even if the margins were a touch more bloated than what the Sharks would have wanted.
However, the past fortnight the team seemed to retrograde at an alarming rate – losing 5-19 to struggling Welsh outfit Ospreys and on Friday suffered an unsatisfactory and humiliating reverse (10-12) against the unprosperous Italian franchise Zebre.
For context, it was Zebre’s first win since April 2022 – an 18-month drought that raised questions about their legitimacy in the URC.
The Italian outfit had lost a record 28 games since that victory over Dragons and was indebted to three penalties from the boot of fullback Geronimo Prisciantelli and a further one from Jacopo Trulla.
The Sharks crossed for the only try of the game, via Cameron Wright, with Boeta Chamberlain tagging on the conversion and adding a penalty.
The winless Sharks have also scored only six tries in the opening month and have recorded a solitary losing bonus point – courtesy of Friday’s two-point margin.
Sharks coach John Plumtree, back for a second stint with the Durban-based franchise after his previous stay from 2007 to 2012, said he was “pretty disappointed” with Friday’s result.
Describing it as a ‘tight and tough’ game, Plumtree admitted the team’s poor discipline – a red card to replacement lock Hyron Andrews (for a spear-type clear out at a ruck) and a yellow card to Aphelele Fassi (a dangerous tackle) did not help.
“A lot of our basic skill sets let us down,” Plumtree said, adding: “Losing the aerial battle was key and allowed them to dominate territory.”
He felt his team had a ‘couple of nice moments’ on attack, but really didn’t capitalise on the opportunities that were available.
??? @ZebreParma who won for the first time in 29 attempts, beating the Sharks 12-10 at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi#URC | Credit: @URCOfficialpic.twitter.com/mbxkepUtyW
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 11, 2023
“I was proud of the effort around our goalline defence and a lot of young players really stood up physically,” he said about the outing in Parma.
However, it was the disappointment of not being able to get a win on tour that hurt most.
“We could have picked up a win or two,” Plumtree said.
“That didn’t happen.
“We are now looking forward to getting back home,” he said of hosting Connacht and Dragons in Durban – before a series of domestic derbies.
They face the Bulls in Pretoria, the Lions in Durban, the Stormers in Cape Town and Durban, before travelling to Johannesburg to face the Lions.
“We will reset,” Plumtree said of the next two months, adding: “We work hard to get some momentum going and improve.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Danny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
35 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
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