The Sharks have lost their way but knee-jerk reactions won’t help

The Sharks have lost their way but knee-jerk reactions won’t help

The return of John Plumtree to the Sharks hasn’t been the fairytale that many fans were hoping for after a dismal start to his tenure.

While there has been an improvement in performance, the team appear to have lost their ability to close out matches when they get on top.

The common criticism of the Sharks and one, at least in part, that Plumtree has acknowledged is that they are trying to buy success with high-profile recruitments.

You can’t buy a rugby team

It is clear that the cost of signing Springboks is far more than the simple contract payouts. Front row forwards Bongi Mbonanmbi and Vincent Koch are yet to feature in the URC and the Springboks they have been deploying haven’t been able to get the results.

The Sharks aren’t without positives as some of their attacking play against the Lions showed. When they click, there are few teams around who can live with their skilful game.

While their elaborate attacking game can be spectacular it is still the case that the Sharks let themselves down with the basics time and time again.

Boeta Chamberlain will cop a fair bit of stick for missing a kick to win the game against the Lions but with the Sharks surrendering an 18-3 half time lead and failing to score in the second 40 the substitute kicker is hardly the man who should have his head on the block.

The Sharks have many standout performers who still look like international quality players, but there is an alarming lack of cohesion and composure at the franchise.

Whatever it is that Plumtree is trying to get the Sharks to achieve, they consistently get in their own way.

Sharks lack of belief is palpable

We don’t want to lean too heavily on the intangibles, but the Sharks lack of belief in themselves as a team is palpable.

Removing the veteran Kiwi coach now is unlikely to yield the kind of results the team would want.

Plumtree has made progress with this team in terms of how they are playing, particularly in attack, even if the results haven’t been there.

The glimpses of great rugby won’t do much for the fans who are clearly growing frustrated with a team that cannot seem to get over the line despite being laden with Springboks.

The recent defeats have been hard to take for the Kings Park faithful but the team needs to back Plumtree to get this right in the end.