John Plumtree: Worst Coach? Where to next for the Saarks

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Mar 28, 2024, 13:09

A former Kiwi with a long standing love affair with the Sharks. It is no surprise that he has re-emerged as the saviour for the sharks, 


12 rounds later and the sharks only have 2 wins. Boasting a strong squad, not to mention that they have off loaded so many good players that are now shooting the lights out for other teams at the Bulls, Lions, Stormers and other international teams. 


You would think a quality coach will be able to transform the team and get them to play the way he wants to. He had a decent off season to get this into his team. Then, they have Neill Powel who is suppose to be the director of rugby and had success with the SA sevens team but for some reason he can't seem to retain his talented players. 


It is good to see they are bringing Andre Esterhuizen back, but at huge cost. 


I would go as far as to bring the Du Preez twins back. 


I also do believe that this team is race obsessed, they field the most black players than any other team in SA. The stormers is probably the most successful team, but they too are not at the top of the table. 


I do believe that some white players are being over looked but it is hard to prove because they let Gumede and Nohamba go who are all performing exceptionally well. 


So maybe it is a question of culture at the sharks and players not sharing the same back ground or that have come up together through age group. 


It makes sense to have a core spine from your age group. That is why the crusaders are so successful. Most of their players comes from age groups and they have played together for a long time. 


Bongi, Mpimpi, Etzebeth, Koch to name a few are not sharks players. Neither is AM, some are former queens players, cheetahs etc. 


Back to plumbers, has his time as coach passed, 59, his last 2 teams didn't show a great track record and was booted out of the sharks before. 


Which other coach should they look for and should he be an SA coach. 

Mar 28, 2024, 20:35

I would not rate Plumtree at all.

Mar 29, 2024, 02:59

Funnily enough there were SAFFAS bemoaning the fact that the Sharks shouldn't have let Plumtree go and that Jake White was a disaster. Be interesting to hear their thoughts.

Mar 29, 2024, 09:36

Ja, Jake actually helped them but then some players got their feelings hurt. 

Plumtree got kicked of the All Blacks coaching team. He was at the hurricanes and then became head coach. 

I don't see him as a player developer or someone who knows how to instill a culture. Jake does that really well. Knows how to find talent. The other SA coaches like Dobbo and Van Royen are also doing well. Just the sharks, maybe it is their board that don't know how to invest in local players 

 
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