Plumtree praises Boks but new boys are revelatory

John Plumtree has always said the Hollywoodbets Sharks will be a different animal when he has the use of all his Springboks, particularly at forward, so it would have been understandable if he allowed himself to feel vindicated after Saturday’s 22-12 win over Ulster.

He didn’t go for all of his returning Boks in the starting line-up, with Vincent Koch making his Sharks debut off the bench and another World Cup winner in Ox Nche also only coming on later in the match. But there were seven Bok World Cup winners in his squad and, with the players who started ahead of the two Boks in the front row, Ntuthuko Mchunu playing his 50th game and tighthead Hanro Jacobs, also excelling, the big men laid a good platform for an important win.

Plumtree agrees that the significance might not be to the URC itself, for the Sharks are out of the running for a top-eight finish in the team’s primary competition. That means though that nothing less than lifting the EPCR Challenge Cup title at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in May will be needed if the Sharks are to get into the Investec Champions Cup next year.

The Sharks host Zebre the week after next (6 April) in their Challenge Cup round of 16 clash and will be strongly favoured to get through into a quarterfinal in Durban a week later. Plumtree says that what happens in the URC before then all leads up to that point.

“We have another tough URC game against Edinburgh next week. The first two URC games against Ulster and Edinburgh are all about preparation for the upcoming EPCR game.

We really want to do well in that competition,” said Plumtree.

SHARKS’ NUISANCE VALUE WILL BE APPRECIATED ELSEWHERE

The Challenge Cup is certainly a much-needed lifeline for the Sharks after their poor season, but