John Plumtree and a mischievious grin

On Monday, John Plumtree wore a slightly mischievious grin when he pointed out to reporters that the Stormers were firm favourites to beat the Sharks at Kings Park tomorrow, but while the Sharks coach has clearly wanted to harp on the underdog status to his charges to whip them up into battle rage, this match is actually too close for anybody to call with any great authority.

One argument is that the relentless Stormers have had their colours lowered only once this season, and that was by the Crusaders in Christchurch, and the Sharks are not good enough to emulate the seven-times champions, but another is that the Sharks are hitting their best form of the season, are getting on a role of their own, are playing at home, and need the victory more than the visitors.
Often in close matches, the team that needs it the most prevails, especially if they have home ground advantage.

A month ago, few would have picked the stuttering Sharks to win this one, but they have subsequently shifted up a gear and are gaining momentum and form at the right time of the competition.
Their three wins in a row, topped by last week’s splendid performance against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, has them in sixth place overall and in wild card territory for the play-offs – as long as they keep winning. And if they remain victorious over the next five rounds, they could even challenge the Stormers at the top of the SA Conference.

The Stormers, on the other hand, are eight points ahead of the Sharks and have some comfortable leeway to work with, which might not necessarily be a good thing when you are up against a team in “must-win” mode.

By the same token, the Stormers know that if they can win one of their two tough away games over the next fortnight – the Sharks tomorrow and the Bulls in Pretoria next week – they will pretty much sew up the SA Conference given their relatively easy programme after the June break, comprising of home matches against the Lions and Rebels and a tricky-ish away match against the Cheetahs, but one they should win against a tired team with nothing to play for.

All the while the Stormers have been championing structure over flamboyance in their workmanlike progression through the rank and file of Super Rugby, winning 10 of 11 games without ever tittilating their fans but at the same time never giving them too much too sweat about.

“They’ve picked up a bit of criticism recently for winning ugly,” Plumtree agreed, “but at the end of the day they’ll point at the log and they will just be focusing on what they need to do to secure a home semi-final. Sure, they’ll also be looking to improve their performances, but winning comes first. They’ve had success against us in recent Super Rugby seasons, and will come here with confidence and belief that they have the firepower to beat us, but I guess also respect of what we’ve done in recent weeks.”

Asked what the most challenging aspect is of playing the Stormers, Plumtree said: “Probably the confidence that comes from winning regularly. They’re a team that certainly knows how to win and are very tough to break down. And when you are winning week in week out, you can really focus on the details of your performances.”

The Sharks have not had the luxury of lengthy winning streaks to help them perfect their game and have been locked in dogged struggles that have mostly seen them in a pattern of undoing a hard-fought victory with a heart-breaking defeat, although they are now on their best winning sequence since narrowly going down to the Chiefs in Durban.

“At the beginning of May we spoke about the necessity of a good run of five matches and now we’ve won three of those, with two to go before the June break,” Plumtree pointed out. “The Stormers this weekend is the big one and it is getting all the hype that is deserves, so the boys are really excited about a massive fixture at Kings Park.

“I’m sure everyone will expect the Stormers to beat us and that will add a bit more flavour to it in terms of physicality, and while they seldom lose these days, we are starting to find our rhythm.
We knew at some stage we were going to come right, and it’s happening now.”

Referee: Jaco Peyper (SA)

Sharks: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Freddie Michalak, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel (capt), 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Anton Bresler, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Subs: Craig Burden, Wiehahn Herbst, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Ryan Kankowski, Jacques Botes, Odwa Ndungane, Louis Ludik.

Stormers: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (capt), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Subs: Deon Fourie, Frans Malherbe, De Kock Steenkamp, Don Armand, Nick Fenton-Wells, Louis Schreuder, Burton Francis.
by Mike Greenaway