A heart of green and gold
22 Jan 2013
John Plumtree remains adamant that for him when it comes to rugby, South Africa is No 1, writes MARK KEOHANE in Business Day Sport Monthly.
John Plumtree’s wife is South African. His son is South African. His team of choice, as a player and coach, the Sharks, is South African. Often, Plumtree is referenced as the Sharks’ New Zealand-born coach, but he sees it differently. When it comes to rugby he’s more South African than Kiwi. In fact, he’s more Shark than anything else.
Plumtree has aspirations to coach the Springboks, as is the case with any South African coach. He identifies with South African rugby more than any other and while there will always be a proud Kiwi in Plumtree, when it comes to rugby the identification is very South African.
The jersey Plumtree prides most is a Springbok Sevens jersey, earned in 1994 when representing South Africa at the Hong Kong Sevens.
‘I reckon I must have been the first Kiwi to wear the green and gold,’ he jokes. ‘It was a surreal moment in the change room; a very special moment. A very strong Springbok Sevens team went to Hong Kong in 1994. Andre Joubert, Henry Honiball and Joost van der Westhuizen were among the stars of that team and I felt proud to be considered good enough for the squad,’ says Plumtree.
‘I grew up a Kiwi kid with dreams of playing for the All Blacks against the Springboks and here I was wearing the Springbok jersey and I felt massive pride in playing for South Africa. They were New Zealand’s traditional foe and they were the team that commanded the most respect among the older folk.
‘The greatest challenge for an All Blacks player was to beat the Springboks in South Africa and I grew up with a sense of wonder and awe at the men in green and gold. They had a mystique for me. As a young rugby player I always wanted to play in South Africa; I got the chance in 1988 and ended up staying for nearly 10 years before returning to the Sharks to coach in 2006.’
South Africa is home to Plumtree and has been for some time. Professionally, his coaching may still take him to Europe or New Zealand, but in an ideal world home is Durban, South Africa and work is in South Africa.
‘The country has given me a family, a home and a wonderful lifestyle. It has given me opportunity. South Africa has been very good to me and I’d like to think I’ve embraced the country and given as much as I can to it. I’ve been in South Africa for the best part of 20 years and love being here,’ says Plumtree.
‘My coaching took me to Wales, where you could say I did my apprenticeship with Swansea as a young coach and furthered that with four years as Wellington coach in New Zealand. But for the rest it’s all been here in Durban, as a player and as a coach. I’ve never felt I had to choose between New Zealand and South Africa; if anything I consider myself fortunate to have experience of both because of the strong rugby connection. I have enormous respect for the rugby in New Zealand and an equal feeling for the game in this country.’
Plumtree has worked with some of New Zealand’s and South Africa’s best players and says the similarities make the rivalry so intense.
‘Both have an appetite for physicality and for playing a direct game. Both want to be the best in the world and have the work ethic that goes with it. If there was a difference I’d say there’s more pressure in South Africa at schoolboy level to win because of the rivalry between the major rugby playing schools, whereas in New Zealand there is a greater focus at schoolboy level on playing good rugby. The pressure here would be to win at all costs; there the pressure would be in the skills evolution of a player at schools level.
‘Professionally, though, there isn’t much to choose and that is why there seldom is much in matches at Super Rugby and Test levels. There has been the odd blowout from the Boks and from a South African and Kiwi Super Rugby side, but generally, as a Kiwi side, you have to play bloody well to win in this country, and the same is true of any South African team wanting to win in New Zealand.’
Plumtree played 80 matches for the Sharks between 1988 and 1997, having played 40 provincial games in New Zealand prior to that, which culminated in selection for All Blacks trials in 1989. His best rugby memories are playing for the Sharks and winning two Currie Cup medals and he takes pride in the achievement of winning the Currie Cup as a player and as a coach.
‘I was part of the 1996 squad as a player and in my first season as head coach in 2008 we won the cup again for the first time since 1996. To say I have won the Currie Cup as a player and a coach is a big thing for me because it also shows just how long I have been here and it is a competition that means a hell of a lot to me. I understand the history of the competition and I know what it meant to win it as a player at the Sharks. So I will never treat it as secondary.
‘There’s Super Rugby, which we want to win and there’s the Currie Cup, which we want to win. Both have equal status. One is the premier international tournament we play in and the other is the premier domestic competition. We had a chance to complete a rare double in 2012 in winning both and fell at the last hurdle. It hurts because we got so close to something really special, but the motivation has to be that it is possible to succeed in both tournaments and the group of players this year is more experienced, more mature and equipped to certainly be successful.’
The defeat in the Currie Cup final against Western Province rankles Plumtree more than the away defeat against the Chiefs in Super Rugby because it was a final he believed his team was good enough to win.
‘It is the one area we simply have to correct as a squad. When we are looking down the barrel we somehow find an escape and a way to win but when the hard work has been done and the expectation is there that we should win we have stumbled. Western Province played very well to win the final but home finals are occasions you have to make count. We had done all the hard work, benefited from consistency in getting a home semi-final and final and then to stumble … well you pick an adjective …’
Consistency is something Plumtree feels the Sharks have lacked in Super Rugby and to win the tournament he believes a team has to start well and end well.
‘The Crusaders and Bulls in their best years showed this consistency. They won enough to get the home semi and home final and while it is a huge advantage playing at home in the final it is also reward for a consistent season,’ says Plumtree. ‘I know we were up against it last year in having to travel to Australia, back to South Africa and then to Hamilton in New Zealand in 10 days but had we started the tournament better, it would have been another team doing the travelling to Durban.
‘It is the nature of the competition and it’s a competition I love being a part of. It tests everything about you as a player and as a coach. It tests the depth of your squad, the mental resolve and it also tests the ability of the coaching staff to manage the playing demands of the squad. I personally love the tournament and I enjoyed the expanded version in 2012.’
Plumtree favours the June break when internationals are played and says a tournament as long as Super Rugby needs a break.
‘I guess the key is not to have too many international players away on Test duty because we saw how a team like the Crusaders struggled post the June internationals. They were just hitting a peak before the All Blacks’ three Tests against the Irish and their players, who were superb at times against Ireland, just never hit the same heights in the remainder of the tournament.
‘The Sharks, by contrast, benefited from the break. We had a chance to reassess, get our injured players back on the park and we also had the benefit of a bye in the first week after the break. I found our players were refreshed and our Springboks gained a lot from that one-week bye. We went on a roll, so it works both ways. As a coaching team we learned a lot from last year, in terms of managing the squad and maximising game time for the entire squad.’
Plumtree, six days after the Sharks’ Super Rugby final defeat in Hamilton, started the Currie Cup campaign against Western Province in Cape Town, and he made 14 changes to the side beaten by the Chiefs.
‘The travel and playing demands forced those changes and we won in Cape Town, which shows you what is possible. I think having so many players away on international duty has allowed us to develop talent at Currie Cup level, which may not have been the case if all our players were available every weekend. It is why the Currie Cup for me will always have prestige, as a tournament, and as a showcase of the next generation of star players in South Africa.’
Plumtree has an expectation of his squad, but won’t differentiate between the need to win and develop quality players and improve the quality of those already in the system.
‘It can’t be one at the expense of the other. The nature of the sport is you have to win but you can develop and win at the same time if your identification is right. I have been so impressed with what Gary Kirsten has done with the Proteas. He has taken risks, always spoken of a bigger picture, be it an ODI World Cup, a T20 series or a Test series. You know what he wants to achieve and he hasn’t been afraid to introduce youngsters at the same time.
‘He has a clear plan, which has been well communicated, but he has also been very clear about the priority in results, which was to win the Test series in England and Australia … which they did. In the interim he has introduced a virtually new T20 side and made many adjustments to the ODI side. I think South African rugby, at national and provincial and regional levels, can learn a lot from what Gary has done with the Proteas cricket side.’
Plumtree, this season, wants a closer working relationship with the national coaches and with whoever can add to the success of the Sharks.
‘I don’t think we share enough in South Africa. I think we can learn from each other, at franchise level, and at national level and we definitely can learn from other codes,’ says Plumtree. ‘A lot of rugby people look to New Zealand but the system is completely different, especially the way in which the NZRU contracts the Super Rugby players and the working relationship that exists between the national coaches and the franchise coaches. You could only take from New Zealand if Saru was contracting the players. They aren’t.
‘There’s a lot right with rugby in South Africa and we have the luxury of so much natural talent. I’d say we need to invest more in the intellectual capital that there is on a coaching front in this country, encourage our players to have a go and take risks without fear of being dropped. We certainly also need to talk more, among ourselves in rugby and to those in other codes, to make South African rugby an entity that can consistently be as strong as New Zealand, and hopefully even stronger.’
– This article first appeared in Business Day Sport Monthly, which is distributed FREE with Business Day newspaper on the second Friday of each month.
720 Comments
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22 Jan 2013, 08:24 am
back from the school run magnificent day in the most magnificent city in the world, except for the lovely woman who rammed her car up the arse of another on De Waal Drive.
22 Jan 2013, 08:25 am
@ufo-27: so what is diff then when his Sharks team plays every NZ team every year?
22 Jan 2013, 08:27 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-24: so his crime was playing Bismarck ahead of John …
22 Jan 2013, 08:29 am
So she got out of the car and said to me, ” Nice! Ram me up the arse, why don’t you? ”
“And that, Your Honour, is where the misunderstanding began.”
22 Jan 2013, 08:30 am
@RL-46: McCaw in his book says when asked by NZRFU who he wanted he said Henry over Deans and says Deans too dictatorial for NZ set up. Very interesting chapter.
22 Jan 2013, 08:33 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-49: indeed. All Black agents will defend their own cheats and thugs. Never heard of a kiwi thug, cheat, coach or ref apologies for doing wrong – Bryce the exception although he admitted to being just not good enough. Meanwhile the convits and the dragons regret their decisions to hire All Black agents. Yes Wales were good enough to beat a 14 man AB team.
Lesson here is keep Plum far away from the Boks.
22 Jan 2013, 08:34 am
@NZINCHINA-50:
no China, we lost because your countrymen screwed us.
it was ‘their time’ and the history of choking pressure was too much for them to bear.
they played it the way they best know how.
Johan unknowingly took a stimulant which part of a supplement regime he started on as an ignorant kid. he made no effort to deceive anyone and came clean immediately when he showed a positive result. he was punished, accepted his punishment and has never shown positive since.
btw how’s Brycie these days? busy much..?..
22 Jan 2013, 08:37 am
Great article Keo.
SA rugby could certainly do with him in some sort of coaching role. Especially with the forwards, thats where his expertise really is imo. Getting the most out of them on a skill and focus level.
@ufo-2:
Well done for focussing on completely the wrong issues with regard to Plum. Not sure what more the guy can say and do to prove he is more saffa now than NZ.
If the AB coaching job comes up and he gets nominated, who the fck cares? Every coach aspires to coach at national level and if that job doesnt come up in SA, he’s free to go wherever he pleases. That doesnt suddenly make him any less SA or any more NZ. Its just where the opportunity lies. As Keo says, his kid hasnt even been to NZ yet. I dont understand your focus on him ‘nailing his colours firmly to the mast’.
Whats of more importance and what you clearly missed is what he trying to implement at the Sharks and what he wants from SA regional and school boy rugby. Which is a switch to a more skills based approach. To allow the kids to ‘have a go’.
Where its not just ‘bash it up’ and if you try something different and it doesnt come off, you get dropped straight away.
If the Sharks play the type of rugby they did in the last few weeks of the S15, it should prove something of what he is trying to accomplish in this regard. If it doesnt come off, well, at least he tried to improve the style of rugby currently being played in SA.
22 Jan 2013, 08:38 am
Good for you Coach Plumtree.
I have a feeling that Frans Steyn could be the missing part of the puzzle for you. Keep him fit and he could be your talisman.
22 Jan 2013, 08:39 am
@keo-53:
no, his crime was not giving John more (than two minutes of) game time after the national coach asked him to do so, specifically and directly, when he came back from injury.
22 Jan 2013, 08:39 am
Good article. Good to hear a coach (coaching a SA team) mentioning that SA rugby could still learn from other codes and needs to grow and invest in the intelectual capital.
As long as SA teams appoint unqualified ‘coaches’, with little or no experience such as Victor Matfield, SA shows that it has no intention to invest in coaches with decent credentials.
Matfield appointed as attacking coach… seriously? Flecky had some success at UCT and leapfrogged to coaching a super rugby backline… Did he really have the best credentials to coach the Stormers? Compare these two examples, to the resume of say Todd Louden. The one has a file cabinet and the other a napkin.
@keo-52: P
Perhaps you should write an article about SA rugby’s lack of investment in coaching coaches, the structures/workshops that are or arent in place in SA to develop great coaches. Especially backline coaches. It would be great to get some insight into how to become a great coach, the education needed and experience gained.
22 Jan 2013, 08:40 am
Jinne HM is moerig early in the morning
22 Jan 2013, 08:41 am
@Jeez-61: good point.
22 Jan 2013, 08:43 am
@keo-55:
What do you think of our Hore effort?
Gonna print it?
22 Jan 2013, 08:48 am
Bakkies its now pretty clear doping (cheating) is widespread in SA schools, surely all previous results involving SA school boys and U20 cup results are now in doubt.
22 Jan 2013, 08:49 am
Nice article Keo…
Plum is an excellent down to earth bu.gger and a very good coach too.
This came across in the article very well.
Plum wins Super Rugby this year then he will without doubt be a front runner for the Bok coaching job, giving Heyneke some real pressure from the rear.
But fark me there are some real self inflated kno.bbers who reckon they know about country and team loyalty – without ever meaningfully slinging an oval shaped ball in anger ever…
22 Jan 2013, 08:51 am
@NZINCHINA-65:
Still at it?
22 Jan 2013, 08:51 am
@RL-56:
agreed.
i would be comfortable with him providing a suport role but nothing more.
22 Jan 2013, 08:53 am
@Heavens Game-66:
Ag shame man
22 Jan 2013, 08:53 am
@Jeez-61:
how do you think Plum got his coaching job in the first place?
not saying i dont think a mix of skills isn’t a good thing.
22 Jan 2013, 08:54 am
I threw a ball in anger once.
22 Jan 2013, 08:54 am
Kirsten can do with some photo-shopping
22 Jan 2013, 08:57 am
@NZINCHINA-65: no china not all – all players that wear the green and gold are teated for drugs by SARU and the IRB. Now if the IRB were to implement a lie detector test to weed out the cheats do you thimk the Baby Blacks will be able to field a team of 22 players.
22 Jan 2013, 08:59 am
@NZINCHINA-65:
dont be an idiot, China
IRB tests for drugs at all its world cup events.. duh..?.
results involving SA schoolboys are not in doubt.
how did this information come to your attention?
precisely because SA Institute of Drug-Free Sport / SA Rugby is doing something about it.
22 Jan 2013, 09:00 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-70:
Not sure Bakkies. Remind us again how he got his coaching job in the first place.
22 Jan 2013, 09:02 am
Gooi mielies! Ek bly al 20 jaar in Joburg – maar sal nooit die Lions ondersteun nie – NOOIT nie. As ek ooit SA verlaat sal ek altyd SA ondersteun. Sal nooit glo dat Plum SA ondersteun nie.
22 Jan 2013, 09:03 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-70:
Its not the 90s anymore, besides he has been a coach now for a long time and earned his position. Rugby has evolved and so should a coaches education. Ex rugby players have to gain experience like any other coach before they get top jobs. Id like to know how many courses and workshops there are available to gain experience and skills in SA compared to Nz and Aus….
22 Jan 2013, 09:05 am
@keo-52:
not the same thing at all… franchise/regional/provinicial coaches are always playing other teams from their own country so no big deal…
there’s a lot more at stake when it comes to coaching the national team… you know this as well as anyone…
@John Galt-58:
what i clearly missed…?
did you even read through my posts before you got yourself in a dither and a twitch and had to put shaking fingers to keyboard…?
i acknowledged what plum has achieved at the sharks and that they are playing the best rugby of the south african teams… i said several times they are the side to beat for the comp this year… in fact i said the same thing last year too… i also said i wouldn’t object to him being the bok coach…
as for who the fck cares…?
many many south african fanatical rugby supporters care… and many of them conservative people… if you believe that no one cares you’re being naive bud…
my point… which you clearly missed… is that if he wants the bok job in the future it would be politik to start appealing to bok supporters now telling them unequivocally he is for the boks all the way… it would make his appointment a little easier for many saffa rugby supporters to whom a foreign coach is anathema…
and yes… being a national coach does mean having to play the politics… rugby politics in the rest of the world… rugby and real politics in south africa…
if he can be seen to have wanted it all along people will accept him more easily… if he comes across suddenly when the time comes as opportunistic and expedient then it’ll be so much tougher for him…
but hey… that’s just my view…
22 Jan 2013, 09:05 am
@Dawn-64: good a.m mygirl.
Have a great day.
22 Jan 2013, 09:06 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-70:
How did he get his coaching job
22 Jan 2013, 09:07 am
@John Galt-75:
a former player who went into coaching on the back of his history as a player..?..
no formal coaching training of any sort at all. at best he served an apprenticeship as an assistant coach somewhere?
@RL-73:
the world awaits Reechee’s ‘Oprah’ moment.
22 Jan 2013, 09:07 am
@ryecatcher-79:
You too Rye
22 Jan 2013, 09:08 am
@ufo-78:
Reg so UFO. Stem saam.
22 Jan 2013, 09:10 am
Bakkies , If Plums ‘sin ‘ was to leave Plod out despite the Fat Boy PDV instruction to play the Fat Boy Plod, then I am an ever bigger Plum fan!
22 Jan 2013, 09:11 am
@Britney Spies-83:
shot bud…
22 Jan 2013, 09:19 am
Was unaware Plum was born and bred in Hawera…a small town in Taranaki close to mine own heart. If you come from the Naki then you are a Hardcore Kiwi.
22 Jan 2013, 09:21 am
@Te Rangatira-86:
Of course Plum is a hardcore Kiwi.
22 Jan 2013, 09:21 am
@RL: ” If players need to have citizenship
to be a Bok then the same must apply for
head coaches.”
quite right, the Sports Minister will have to be convinced that there aren’t any other equally qualified SA coaches before a non-citizen coach can be appointed.
22 Jan 2013, 09:23 am
@Dawn-80:
same was Victor did.
player turned coach.
22 Jan 2013, 09:24 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-89:
same was Victor did = same way Victor did.
22 Jan 2013, 09:24 am
@keo-18:
Yes I did…but that doesn’t automatically mean they have to live here. They could still be living in Asstralia…with his family. Ever thought of that.
22 Jan 2013, 09:25 am
Whatever Plum’s country “loyalties” are, one thing is for certain…
Plum is a Shark through and through… Kings Park Black and White running through those veins…
A Shark forever…
And if “patriotic” Saffas have a problem with him being born a Kiwi or not explicitly stating that he “supports” the Boks if and when they play the ABs then farkem… If he’s not “pure” enough for these farken twits to coach the Boks, even if he has bled in Green and Gold, he’s certainly been good enough for the Sharks…
As an outstanding player… and a very good coach.
22 Jan 2013, 09:25 am
@Jeez-77:
i have no problems with that.
i would think Victor will be taking a few courses as a matter of course.
22 Jan 2013, 09:25 am
@Heavens Game-92:
Daar stem ek saam. Sharks ja – SA nee.
22 Jan 2013, 09:26 am
@Te Rangatira-86: he goes to IRANZ often to brush up on kiwi speak, tactics & cheating
22 Jan 2013, 09:26 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-44:
What the Kiwis saw was a Bok team that was nowhere near as good as they though they were….Ozzies had your number for years.Give it a rest, you lost ….haha
22 Jan 2013, 09:26 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-93:
Of course
22 Jan 2013, 09:27 am
@ufo-78:
Im sorry but I just dont get why he has to be so unequivocal. NZ is the land of his birth, of course he is going to always have a place for the country in his heart.
I just dont see how this would undermine his abilities as a SA coach.
Are you one of the paraniod conspiracy theorists out there, like RL, who think that he is a AB mole placed in SA rugby to undermine what we are trying to do here?
Do you think he will give 100% against all other teams but if he comes up against the ABs, he will suddenly not be so competetive?
As for me? I personally think that actions speak louder than words. The fact that he lives here, his wife is from here, his son has never been to NZ and he has worn the Green and Gold, means more than if he came out with some politically correct speach saying how he is absolutely a Saffa.
22 Jan 2013, 09:27 am
@Transformation-88:
Do you think they have learned this lesson asa result of the fiasco brought about by Bafana’s foreign coaches?
22 Jan 2013, 09:27 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-10:
Bakkies, there I would disagree with you.
I for one would love to see what Plum, with a John Mitchell as assistant, could do with the Boks as coach.
I think it would be a great duo and they don’t have to prove their credentials.
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