Sharks coach John Plumtree was in philosophical mood yesterday

rugby sharks final build-up by my mate

MIKE GREENAWAY

Sharks coach John Plumtree was in philosophical mood yesterday when the Sharks resumed trained in preparation for the Absa Currie Cup final.
The players trained on the main Kings Park pitch, in the arena where it will all happen on Saturday, and the coach reflected thus: “It is all about them now,” he said looking out to the players. They have done the hard work to get here. We as management are going to change as little as possible this week and now it is about how much the players want it …”
Plumtree said the early signs are very good.
“The guys are very excited. Maybe the nerves will come later in the week. I think it is settling in that they are playing a Currie Cup final in front of their home fans, and it is almost upon them after a week’s break. The thing is, Western Province will be experiencing the same excitement.”
They surely will, having not been in a Currie Cup final for nine years.
“They are in the same place we were in 2008,” Plumtree said before adding with a little smile: “We had not won anything in years (12 to be exact), but does that create pressure …?”
And distancing his own team from Cup final pressure is the chief aim of the Sharks coach.
“Final week can get out of hand if you don’t manage it,” he observed. “It is about keeping the team together and resting and minimising sideshows, from my experience (Plumtree played in his share of finals and coached Swansea and Wellington to many a final before winning the 2008 Currie Cup with the Sharks, not to mention a Super 14 final loss when he was assistant to Dick Muir.)
“You can have information overload if you have speech after speech and overdo the inspiration side of things.”
From the point of view of the players, captain Stefan Terblanche said his team-mates were in a good mental place for a final given the events of the closing rounds of the Currie Cup.
“We lost two of our last three games, to the Lions and to Province, but then came back strongly to beat the Bulls in the semi-final, and that has to give us the belief that we can beat the best as long as we get our game right,” he said. “But we are also very aware of how well WP played against us when they had a home semi-final at stake, and we also realise that they will lift their intensity even further for a final.”
This will be Terblanche’s fourth Currie Cup final and his third against Western Province.
“I am hoping it will third time lucky – we lost to Province in 2000 and 2001, and that was after losing heavily to the Lions in 1999 in Durban. I know what it is like to taste defeat in a Currie Cup final, trust me, and then in 2003 we lost again (to the Bulls) although the Springboks were not allowed to play (because of the Rugby World Cup that year),” he recollected.
“But it is hardly about me or any other individual. Plum summed it up perfectly before the semi-final when he said any close-knit team will beat any group of stars or individuals. On paper the Bulls had far more stars than us and nobody gave us a chance, understandably so, but we gutsed it out in the second half. If you look at the statistics, they made a lot more tackles than us – the majority of our defending was in the last quarter, with one important hit after another.”
However, the wily veteran points out that perspective is required on the nail-biting win over the Bulls.
“We must not get carried away. We only just beat them. They were so close to winning it at the end, and they are hardly now a bad side just as we are hardly now world beaters. That semi-final showed just how tight these games really are. One miss tackle can be the difference, a bounce of the ball, a bit of luck either way… The only thing you can do is give everything, and if the opposition team wins you say ‘well done’, we tried our best, you got it right on the day.”
: http://www.iol.co.za