Stumbling Sharks plumb the depths
| Their overseas tour has become a last-chance saloon for the former top-performing coastal side
WHEN one speaks of the Sharks it should be in the glowing tones of a team dominating South Africa’s Super Rugby landscape because of their Springbok player resources.
But reality often casts a different perspective and the outlook has been gloomy.
It is too early to be calling curtains on their Super Rugby campaign, but no team has ever won the tournament with more than five regular season defeats.
Their upcoming overseas tour, where they will face the Hurricanes, Highlanders, Waratahs and the Reds, does not inspire any confidence.
The Sharks are far removed from the near successes of John Plumtree and Brian van Zyl when they took part in four Currie Cup finals between 2008 and 2012.
Two of them were won, and the Sharks were consistently at the right end of the Super Rugby table without quite winning the tournament.
It is a return that would normally see coaches having their contracts extended, but somehow Plumtree was unceremoniously shafted in June 2013 after an underwhelming Super Rugby campaign.
Jake White’s short tenure promised much but delivered little from a trophy perspective, and his exit was black-marked by a senior player uprising.
Under Gary Gold the Sharks have yet to find any semblance of consistency or an attractive game plan.
Sharks chief executive John Smit roped in Paul Anthony, Michael Horak, Brad McLeodHenderson and Sean Everitt, while Brendan Venter acts in a consulting capacity.
Gold has admitted that the going has been tough because of the constant changes in the coaching department, but he hopes that they will come right at some stage.
“The transition of the coaches in the past two years, and me not being able to be here in the preseason, has been tough. For me to pick up the pieces and understand what was being implemented, and to come to terms with what they wanted to do, has been a challenge. You can spend six to eight weeks in pre-season debating what you want to do on the field and by the third week you are settled and can implement all aspects,” Gold said.
“Week one was my first week in the job and you pick up what you’ve got. It has been a challenge but by no means an excuse. The transition has been tough and the bottom line is that we have not been winning games that we are supposed to be winning.”
How low the Sharks have dipped has been evidenced by the lack of crowd support.
The purges were first at an administrative level, where long-serving chief executive Van Zyl made way for Smit in April 2013, which was followed by an internal audit.
Van Zyl was not keen to comment on the current running of the Sharks, but said the employment of too many coaches has had an impact on the team and its current struggles.
“I would say that their procurement has not been very good in terms of the people they have brought on board, and they have let too many good players go. I can’t comment on the quality of the coaching but in my 20 years with the union we never looked at having too many coaches,” Van Zyl said.
Attempts to obtain comment from Smit drew a blank.
Transition has been tough and we have not been winning