Plumtree's Sharks 'cruising'
Sharks coach John Plumtree has likened the Sharks current winning state to a ship cruising along nicely with everything working properly and the entire crew working towards a common goal.
Sharks coach John Plumtree has likened the Sharks current winning state to a ship cruising along nicely with everything working properly and the entire crew working towards a common goal.
Plumtree felt that the Currie Cup match between his team and Blue Bulls was a great advert for South African rugby following the Sharks' 34-25 victory on Saturday.
“I am directing the ship,” he explained on the Sharks website. “But the team is running itself. They are making the decisions – they are the ones going out there to play.”
Plumtree is happy not only with his team's performance against the Bulls, but also the attitude they have within the team environment.
“We've spoken about how this team is bigger than the individuals and it's close, a lot closer than the past,” he said.
“We're all working well together and once everyone understands the team drive, we give ourselves a better chance of winning. When the chips are down, they draw strength from each other.
“I know we'll drop a game or two, but won't drop a lot. This is a good team, well led.”
He added that the significance of the win over the Blue Bulls in the context of the competition was important. Psychologically it was a good result over the Bulls and the five-pointer took them to the top of the Currie Cup standings with four more matches in the second round left to play.
“This is a big win,” he said
“It's hard not to look ahead because we're getting into a position where we're pushing hard for a home semi and we need to consolidate to push for a home final as well.
“That's the nature of the competition, if you earn a home semi and final, you give yourself a better position to win.
“But there is lots of rugby still to play – this week's another big one (against the Free State Cheetahs).”
He also praised his team's commitment and application to the task of playing an 80 minutes game, something which no doubt drove their ability to win the game.
“It was good the way we killed the game off in the end,” he said.
“They came hard at us and we had to do well in the end to use up time.”
Although John Smit is back in training, he won't be ready to play for another week or two, but Plumtree admitted that he was looking forward to the return of the Springbok captain.
“It will be good when he (Smit) comes back as well. He also understands the culture here,” said Plumtree.
“John might play a couple of minutes against Griquas or Lions, but he's not ready yet.”
More selection headaches face the coach this weekend with the likely return of Adrian Jacobs, Ryan Kankowski and Beast Mtawarira to the team.