Sharks coach John Plumtree says that a period of “feeling each other out” between himself and his returning Springboks is starting to yield a healthy harvest such as the outstanding performances by Lukhanyo Am and Eben Etzebeth in the 45-5 defeat of Pau on Saturday.
Am and Player of the Match Etzebeth both scored two tries as the Sharks emphatically put behind them the big URC loss to the Bulls.
“As a leader, Lukhanyo is getting used to me and I am getting used to him. We are starting to have a good understanding of how we both operate. I was pleased to see him doing well,” the coach said.
Am has been growing in form over the past few weeks and his exciting partnership with Francois Venter at 12 was a highlight of the game.
Intriguing centre partnership
Venter, a Springbok in 2016 and 2017, is an underrated player and Plumtree would do well to keep him and Am together. Plumtree added that Etzebeth has been a commanding presence in the Shark Tank since his return from France.
“Eben has been back a couple of weeks now and he is starting to get into the Sharks way and he is starting to lead and inspire others and help the younger locks.
“He is pretty inspirational and it’s not easy for a guy like that to come back off a World Cup win and get back into his club and start performing straight away. So it was good tonight to see him doing that. Hopefully he will go from strength to strength.”
Plumtree confirmed that the week had started with some serious introspection for the players.
“It was a pretty tough week after the Bulls game. Monday was a tough day for the players.
“All we can do is respond positively. We just had to focus on ourselves and put a lot of heat on the leaders to step up and run the week. I thought they were great and were good out there tonight too,” he revealed.
The Sharks led 24-5 at half-time after gamely trying to play attacking rugby in the wet. A killer period just after half-time settled the outcome and the last 20 minutes were dull, only to be lit up a fire in the south stand as the final whistle sounded.
Both sets of players looked up at a plume of smoke billowing from a fire that had resulted from an electrical short.
‘We got sloppy’
There were no fans in that area of the stadium and the fire was put out in minutes.
“We got sloppy in that last quarter and they were sloppy too,” Plumtree admitted.
“The game just fizzled out. It was pretty disappointing, really. Our skill sets let us down in the last 20 minutes and I think the boys will be disappointed with that.
“It looked like the boys got a bit bored with the contest.
“I was pleased with aspects of our game and how we kicked the ball behind them and kept the pressure on them. And we dominated the territory in the first half so there were aspects of our game that were pleasing.”
The Sharks travel to Bloemfontein next week where they face a Cheetahs team that was impressive in beating Zebre 33-15.
IOL Sport