Sharks 2015 -Super Rugby Season Preview

It is about a year ago that Jake White was boldly embracing the hype over the Sharks’ status as Super Rugby title aspirants, stating that his charges would indeed go the distance with the other contenders and then knock them out.

Three quarters of the way through the competition, White’s bold public contention was threatening to blossom into fruition only for the Sharks to then inexplicably (at the time) implode with a series of shock defeats, notably in pre and post-tour matches at home to the bottom-placed Cheetahs and the injury-depleted Stormers, respectively.

Not long after, the Sharks were laid out on the canvas in Christchurch in the play-offs, and two months later White curiously said he was standing back from the Currie Cup. Then, not so curiously, White announced he was moving to pastures new. There was certainly no surprise that White had not fulfilled his (ambitious) four-year contract, but even the most dubious critics of White’s appointment reckoned he would last longer than a year.

No fine. And that brings us to the eve of another year of Super Rugby combat. So what is in store for ever-perplexed Sharks fans this time? White has become Gold, and back in from the wild blue yonder is the maverick, not to mention enigmatic, Brendan Venter, in the guise of technical director.

Call him what you want, Venter is damn good. The one-time Springbok hot-stepper continuously breaks moulds as a coach and the innovative game plan he engineered to win the Sharks the 2013 Currie Cup final against Western Province at Newlands has become the stuff of coaching yore.

Let’s think about it. In the space of three years and across Super Rugby and the Currie Cup, the Sharks have head coaches in John Plumtree, Venter, White, Brad McLeod-Henderson, and now former Bok forwards coach Gold (plus Venter, again).

Sharks CEO John Smit will want the (Gold) dust to settle. The players are overdue the luxury of management stability to underpin their performances on the field. The genial Gold and the player-pleasing Venter will surely go where White could not – and that is into the hearts of senior and junior players alike. It turned out that the allegedly despotic White ruled by fear, quickly quashing any threat of democratic insurrection from the players and reducing the recalcitrants to supporting roles.

White apparently lost the change room (probably explaining those inexplicable defeats) and swiftly moved on.

Gold has barely been in Durban since his appointment because of his parting coaching commitments in Japan, but has popped up above the Kings Park parapets to make a pre-season statement of his own – that under his stewardship the Sharks will play an enterprising brand of rugby that will not only win games but also be aesthetically-pleasing to Smit’s precious season-ticket holders, not to mention the fence-sitters who wait until the day to decide if the Sharks deserve to be watched live at Kings Park instead of on flat screen at home, with a fridge not far off.

Who will forget White, of all people, ironically stating that his best “fetcher” was his son on a Saturday afternoon at home when dad was thirsty. White was reflecting on a question about picking Luke Watson for the Springbok team, and would not appreciate Gold’s veiled criticism of the Sharks’ dour playing style under White – it won most of the games but was excruciatingly dull and ultimately did not warrant the bread on which it was buttered. Going into the final rounds, the Sharks were counted out on their feet. They were among the contenders that were separated from the potential champions. White’s means did not justify the ends because, bottom line, his boring percentage rugby did not win the title, which was the only result that would have excused that way of playing. As it did when the Boks won the 2007 Rugby World Cup under White, when the paint on the walls of the Stade de France threatened to peel off in protest.

The Sharks thus have the vision and the expertise in Gold and Venter to have a genuine crack at the title, but do they have the players? Categorically, yes. And most of all in the positions that arguably count the most, nine and ten. At flyhalf, Patrick Lambie might be relatively young in years at 24 but he has played 40 Tests and last year his merry-go-round trip in the Springbok and Sharks backlines ended and both White and Heyneke Meyer picked him solely in his favourite position.

Lambie is maturing and this World Cup year could well see him blossoming into his rich potential. Alongside him is Cobus Reinach, who similarly is building towards his best. This pair have the ability to take the Sharks all the way should they stay injury-free, and at this stage are favoured to take their act to the World Cup stage.

They will obviously depend on quality ball from their forwards, and again the Sharks are well served by players hitting their peak or at the watershed of their careers. Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis are surely going to take a big pay check in France post the World Cup. So, too, Beast Mtawarira and Willem Alberts. Hitting his prime is Marcell Coetzee, a flanker who could well become the best in his position in the world this year, Richie McCaw and all. And watch out for the second-row pairing of refreshed-from-injury Pieter-Steph du Toit and former England international Mouritz Botha.

The Sharks are a team for all seasons in 2015. They have a dynamic CEO, the coaching staff, they have the players. They have no excuses.

By Mike Greenaway