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Proud Plumtree weighs up cost of victory

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Business Report 

Mike Greenaway

Sharks coach John Plumtree seemed uncertain whether to laugh or cry after his team played out of their socks to inch past the Bulls in the Currie Cup semi-final in Pretoria.

At the final whistle of extra-time, there was much for the Sharks to celebrate — the final against the Lions this week gives them an opportunity to add the Currie Cup to the Challenge Cup — but the extra week of Currie Cup activity impacts significantly on their preparations for the United Rugby Championship.

On the Monday after the Currie Cup final, the Sharks travel to Galway to play Connacht in the opening round of the URC, and they continue overseas to play the Dragons and Benetton.

They could have done with some cushy time off this week to rest and prepare, but now a Currie Cup final is in front of them. There are two sides to this coin — the honour of playing in a final, but also the resulting fatigue and possible injury on the eve of a tough tour.

“I am proud of our leaders on the pitch, the calmness they showed. Either team could’ve won that, we were lucky we got over the line, but I am very proud, big time.”

Plumtree was not quite sure how to deal with the conflict of making a final and the inconvenience of it being a week before the first URC game.

“I am very proud of the grit and resilience we showed,” Plumtree said, after Trevor Nykane had scored a 98th-minute try that ultimately secured the Sharks’ place in the final.

“It was a very dramatic match. Yellow cards, a red card, to be down to 12 men, but to keep out the Bulls showed a lot of character.

“This pride-in-the-jersey culture is what I have been trying to establish at the Sharks and we did not have it when I first arrived (18 months ago). I am proud of our leaders on the pitch, the calmness they showed. Either team could’ve won that, we were lucky we got over the line, but I am very proud, big time.”

James Venter of the Sharks is tackled by David Kriel of the Vodacom Bulls during the 2024 Currie Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday. ©Nokwanda Zondi/BackpagePix

When extra time ended with the score at 40-40, the Sharks were awarded a place in the final because they had scored more tries (six against four).

“I didn’t know the rules,” Plumtree said. “Lionel (Cronje) had to kick the conversion to secure a draw and a win because we had more tries, but I didn’t know that.”

The coach admitted that the honour of making it through to the final came at a cost.

“The reward for not winning would’ve been a week off and would’ve given us time to prepare for the URC tour,” Plumtree explained.

“Now we’ve won, we don’t get that reward. Now we’ve got to prepare for a final. It is something these boys will cherish. You don’t get too many finals in your career, so you’ve got to cherish each one.

“We will have to put a plan in place for after the game next week. We leave for Ireland on Monday, so we need a plan around our wellbeing, to see who’s fit and who’s not.

“It’s a big week for our planning. We will have to give the boys a couple of days off, just to get over this game, 100 minutes at altitude. There’s a fair bit of recovery to do to get ready for the final. We picked up a couple of injuries so we have work to do.”

Plumtree said that he will adopt a day-by-day approach to the double challenge of preparing for a final and a URC tour.

“On Monday, we will work through what is in front of it. On Tuesday we will have another set of challenges and we will work through those, and so on during the week until we are ready for the Lions and Connacht the next week.”

Plumtree added: “There’s pluses and there’s minuses. It’s not ideal. The ideal preparation would be for me to go home and get this team ready for a tour. But we’ve got another game. It’s not ideal in those terms.

“We respect the Currie Cup because of tradition. Now that we are here in the final, we might as well do our best to win it.”