Sharks find strength in structure
5 Sep 2008
The Sharks have shown the Springboks that structure doesn’t mean a bland brand of rugby.
Under former coach Dick Muir the Sharks’ players were encouraged to play a style which emphasised an instinctive approach that sought to empower players to make their own decisions rather than shackle them with a rigid structure. Much like the philosophy of Springbok coach Peter de Villiers.
In his two and a half years in charge and implementing that approach, Muir guided the Sharks to a Super 14 final and semi-final and two Absa Currie Cup semi-finals. But they’ve struggled to adapt to play-off rugby, which often requires a conservative approach based on patient phase play and gradual point accumulation off the boot.
However, under John Plumtree the Sharks have opted for a more circumspect and direct approach. This hasn’t translated into a bland brand of rugby, seen in the fact that they’ve manage to score 26 tries – the second highest in the tournament.
“There is no such thing as expansive rugby,” Plumtree recently told keo.co.za. “With defences as well organised as they are in the modern game you can’t simply throw the ball wide and hope to break them down. You have to earn the right to go wide through patient play and clever manipulation of the defence.”
It may not be pretty, but it’s been effective for the Sharks in the Absa Currie Cup and the shift will stand them in good stead for the play-offs, which they look poised to reach.
Opponents have noticed the switch as well and have been forced to adjust their approach accordingly.
“Plumtree has got them playing a lot more directly,” Blue Bulls flanker Wikus van Heerden told keo.co.za. “Before they used to go wide off first and second phase, but now they’ve employed a more phase-based approach and it’s obviously working for them.
“I expect nothing less than a tough physical encounter in the forwards, but their strength lies in the fact that they are not limited to that type of game because they have some outstanding backs to call on.”
In refining the Sharks’ approach Plumtree has made them an even more potent unit. The Springboks’ emphatic victory over Australia last week showed the value of a structured approach, particularly in the first three quarters of the match.
Once the foundation is set and victory is secured, South African players thrive in a looser game as they are no longer have a fear of failure.
The teams are a study of contrasts. Where the Sharks have tended to be too cavalier, the Bulls have been over-reliant on a structured approach.
They too have made massive strides in evolving their approach, testament to this being that they’ve scored 33 tries in the tournament – a high percentage of those through incisive and clinical backline play.
This makes Saturday’s clash an intriguing one. The sides are so evenly matched that the result could well ride on the form of their goal-kickers or an individual error. Either way, the Durban duel is set to be a cracker.
By Ryan Vrede
116 Comments
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5 Sep 2008, 14:17 pm
#68 asha1:
“we didnt won the ball on the ground on saturday?”
Yes we did. After Plumtree and McIntosh came in and spend some time coaching us. Did we win the ball on the ground in Perth, Cape Town and Durban ? No. The senior players (Smth, JdV) spoke out publicly about our poor ball retention – did you not follow the press.
5 Sep 2008, 14:42 pm
#101 klingon_x:
“The senior players (Smth, JdV) spoke out publicly about our poor ball retention”
^&^^&^ pdv, ek het gesê hy moet daai ^%%^%^ tie afhaal, hoe hy verwag om die ball te vang met daai tie om, wiet ek nie!
5 Sep 2008, 14:54 pm
#99 Sheriff:
Yes, well put about agreeing to disagree.
I will say this though to both you and Asha, it is refreshing to have an intelligent rugby chat here without the usual insults and racial accusations flying around.
Thank you both.
5 Sep 2008, 14:57 pm
#103 tight head:
No worries mate! Refreshing indeed!
By the way, Asha1 prefers Ash – I guessed one day that his name is Ashley and his response indicated that I’m not to far off
5 Sep 2008, 14:59 pm
#104 Sheriff:
I will remember that.
Enjoy this wonderfull game tomorrow, whoever you are supporting!!
5 Sep 2008, 15:06 pm
#95 tight head:
as sheriff have said before
..
lets rather agree to disagree. no, not because the one wants structure and the other dont. i believe its more a case differences in what we perceive our structure to look like and how it should function.
i believe, though, that the direction pdv is going with the boks, is indeed a positive one. there has been too many instances in the past where we lost games or didnt capatalise on scoring oppertunities because of a structure thats been too rigid and in which players were not allowed to make decisions and be respected for making that decision, whether right or wrong (nick mallet eg towards the end of his reign with the boks!).
what would be interesting though, is to see how these players will react when they face something similar to the rush defense or come up against a team who know that they cant afford to miss their first time tackles.
yes, in those circuimstances we will (almost definately) have to revert back to a more forward orientated gameplan, make the hard yards by retaining possession, clever kicking out of hand etc. (even the ab have to play well within themselves from time to time because the cirumstances demand it … which is exactly how we played in the 2 tests in nz … which funny enough was greeted with “this was the right way to play under these circumstances, but with stuff like “where’s that expansive game you keep talking about”?
and now that he’s finally delivered, he’s greeted with “we shouldve played like we did in nz!!”
(o, and the last line isnt aimed at you, its just a fact!)
5 Sep 2008, 15:12 pm
#105 tight head:
Boks, Stormers and Province.
( The correct SA combination )
5 Sep 2008, 15:13 pm
#105 tight head:
(whisper) pprrrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooooooooovince!
5 Sep 2008, 15:21 pm
PROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBLEMSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
asha a loss 2morrow and a win by the lions will put the weepee’s currie cup chances in the ****
5 Sep 2008, 15:35 pm
#109 sharks_lover:
now, now
behave!
province to win the 2008 cc!!
yeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaa!!
5 Sep 2008, 15:58 pm
#106 asha1:
“and now that he’s finally delivered, he’s greeted with “we shouldve played like we did in nz”
Well – then we might have won this tri-nations and PdV would not find himself under so much pressure. Nothing wrong with playing to a more expansive game plan – but trying to force it at Cape Town/Durban when the competition was up for grabs is just plain stupid. He has years to evolve that team and these things just doesn’t happen over night. Comes back to basic – does he want to win games or just play pretty rugby. Are we going into RWC to win or to prove a point about PdVs romantic ideas about how rugby “should be played”.
5 Sep 2008, 16:42 pm
#111 klingon_x:
dont agree with you
…
we had more than our share of tryscoring oppertunities, as i said earlier this morning, for us to have been either in touching distance or in front at halftime in both the tests we lost at home!
5 Sep 2008, 16:44 pm
Hi Everyone, I’ve created a Guinness Premiership pool on SuperBru.
Everyone’s welcome to join in.
Pool name : Keo’s GP
Pool code :swadloft
Big Hit, put your money where your mac is. All the UK based muppits, give it a go.
5 Sep 2008, 16:55 pm
#111 klingon_x:
i thought we played well on saturday “because we played the basics well”?
if you’re talking about a forward orientated game, you’re probably meaning “come back that gameplan”!
basics is catching the ball, reading a game, knowing what to do in certain situations..
on the gameplan… we have the perfect oppertunity now to add to that physical aspect of our game .. and saturdays game showed that we are able to execute it … dont you think it would be fair to give pdv the time to try and really get guys to really grasp his way of playing?
i said this earlier, but on “wrap down under” they showed a clip that under our old way of playing would never have been possible … schalk running between two defenders and offloading to jean .. when jean is tackled they stop the clip and count the wallaby players thats either part of the ruck .. or are trying to get back
… 11 players ie on their way back or in the ruck!!
5 Sep 2008, 17:44 pm
#112 asha1:
So when Jean was is tackled we had players playing to the ball and securing it with numbers. This didn’t happen in Cape Town and Durban, end of story. In Durban FdP alos ran into space and try to off-load but got isolated almost immediately.
Instead we bungled it because we didn’t win our phase ball. You can cough, and cry and spit an moan as much as you like – that is a fact and everybody who watched those games know it. Everybody has commented on it – even our own senior players. We lost in Cape Town and Durban because PdV didn’t coach how to secure our phase ball, didn’t appreciate the importance of it, but rather tried to impose his new “off-load only” fantasy at all costs – even losing us the tri-nations.
5 Sep 2008, 22:25 pm
#3 flanka: the difference was a kak ref and steyn missing a conversion, that is all
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