It was former All Black coach Laurie Mains who first pinpointed a possible problem faced by Sharks teams in Vodacom Super Rugby – their own conditions can be as much a hindrance as they are an advantage.
“I don’t think people realise just what a disadvantage it is for the Sharks to constantly be training in the energy sapping humidity that they have to work in during the early part of the season,” said Mains when he was regularly strategising against the Sharks as coach of the Cats.
The logic of what Mains was saying should be easily understood by anyone who has ever tried to follow an exercise regime in the KwaZulu-Natal region during January and February. Even if you run or cycle early in the day, it is hard sometimes hard to prevent yourself from being lethargic and listless later on.
There has been many an occasion in recent years when the Sharks have played games in the early part of the year where it has looked like they have just failed to pitch.
Often it has been blamed on attitude, but there have been times when it has been possible to speculate that it may not have been energy that was lacking as the result of the cumulative effect of toiling through the off-season in the humidity.
It was because they understood what Mains was saying that some previous Sharks coaches timed their training sessions for the less inhospitable times of the day.
However, Cell C Sharks director of rugby Jake White has taken a different view, with the new man at the helm of the playing side of the Durban franchise resolving to embrace the conditions so that they could be used to the team’s advantage.
Sharks chief executive John Smit, who after a long playing career in Durban is well versed on the debate, is one of the men that White consulted, and it was the reason that like the fabled mad dogs and Englishmen, the Sharks spent much of the off-season going out to sweat in the midday sun.
“We all know it is very difficult to play here in February and March, and it was one of the reasons that when we met as a group when I first took up my position, we decided we wanted to train in the heat of the day,” said White.
“In the past the guys trained early in the morning and in the evening. But this time we have decided we want to use the conditions we experience here to our advantage during the competition. So we have frequently trained from 9:30 to 11am and from 3:30pm in the afternoon, when it is really hot. The reason we did that was to turn the conditions into one of our strengths.”
BONUS POINTS
If it seems a gamble, the Sharks’ schedule this year might be helpful to them, and White is well aware that with the bye week that comes after week two of the competition will be an opportunity for his men to rest up and replenished energy lost.
Of course, the sticky atmosphere turns almost every match played in Durban through to about the end of March into a wet weather game, and that is another reason White has been training in the heat.
While the Sharks want to start the season with a bang so they get their fans back in behind them and swell attendances at Growthpoint Kings Park, pragmatic rugby will be the order of the day rather than crowd pleasing rugby at the start of the competition.
“The conditions do change the way we want to play, but I think that suits us well because we play a lot of early home games at a stage of the season where generally teams prefer to play low risk rugby. In the early weeks most teams are aware that what rugby they play has to be played in the opposing half. That is something we have worked on and prepared for over the past weeks as we realise our conditions are different.”
That means the chasing of bonus points won’t be an imperative for the Sharks in the early weeks of the competition.
“Bonus points are called a bonus point for a reason, but I don’t think the type of rugby that is played early on is necessarily just because of the conditions and it being February. We struggle to play here because of the humidity that makes the ball slippery, but teams are generally much more conservative and much of it has to do with the way the laws are blown in the first weeks.
“The refs red flag in the off-season what they have to focus on and blow for. So the first weeks are a time in the tournament when teams have to adapt quickly to how the referees are blowing. It is not just in Durban. Even in Auckland and Canberra it is unlikely that teams will get off to a flying start. But having said that, it is important for us to get as many bonus points as we can and do the best we can in every fixture, so if we are in position to chase a bonus point, that is what we will do.”
The Sharks open against the Vodacom Bulls here in Durban on Saturday, and with the region in the throes of a heat wave, the match is likely to be similar to the hard fought low scoring match between the two teams that opened the 2007 season.
On that occasion the Sharks scraped a win, a result White would be happy with as a starting point regardless of how it is achieved.
“We are starting the season at home and that means we should be expected to win and will be in trouble if we don’t,” said White.
“We know what to expect from the Bulls. We know what has worked for them in the past, and it would be surprising if they were to suddenly change that now. We expect them to drive from almost every lineout and we expect them to kick a lot from the base. That is the way the Bulls play and it is what has brought them success.”
