John Plumtree: No more excuses from the Sharks as they eye Ulster in Kings Park clash

Any rugby person who has dealt with John Plumtree will know that the tough Kiwi doesn’t deal in excuses, so when you hear him saying that he is done talking about his 16-man injury count, and his long periods without a dozen Springboks, then you know the Sharks are ready to rumble.

The Sharks are 14th on the URC and host fifth-placed Ulster at Kings Park on Saturday afternoon. Plumtree wants log points, and the Northern Ireland team are going to have to play mighty well to deny the Sharks four to five much-needed points.

“This squad for Ulster is the best we have had for some time,” Plumtree said of the return of big guns in Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Andre Esterhuizen, and Ox Nche.

“There have been some frustrations, but until you get a squad of 25 players that are all URC quality and maybe even more, and have your Boks on top of that, then you’ve got something to work with.

“Right now, we’re still in that process. We think we’re getting there.

“Of course, they’ve all got to be available to you at the right time.

“The time that I needed everyone available to go to work was basically our recent tour, and unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

“I hate making excuses, because it’s not the character I am, but at the same time, I think people need to understand that the quality of the opposition we play against that side of the world at this time of the year is pretty high.

“You need to go into those games with the confidence that you’ve done the necessary preparation.

“We can’t say that because of the disruptions we’ve had.

“What I will say is that all the coaches involved are working really hard to get everyone up to speed at the right time.

“The returning players have been good. You have guys like Siya, Eben, Ox, and Andre coming in.

“There’s a lot of leadership amongst them, and they’ve been really good and not trying to save the world.

“They’ve just been having little conversations relevant to the combinations around them and the overall team to inspire them to work hard and get ourselves in a good position in the URC by the end of the season.

“There are a lot of people that really care, and there’s a fair amount of them that maybe think that some of these boys don’t care, but they do.

“Sometimes we just have to put up with the dice that roll for you, and sometimes they don’t roll well in our direction.

“That’s how we felt the past couple of weeks, but the excuses are over now. We have a good side playing this weekend, and we’re looking forward to playing in front of our home fans.”

Sharks team for Ulster

15 Edwill van der Merwe, 14 Ethan Hooker, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Vincent Tshituka (c), 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.

Bench: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Bathobele Hlekani, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Lukhanyo Am.