The following article from Supersport Rugby:-
"Springbok flyhalf Patrick Lambie has been ruled out of rugby for six weeks because of a neck vertebrae injury suffered in the humiliating loss to the Crusaders at the weekend, thus increasing the Cell C Sharks’ woes as they try to regain the support of their fans.
The Sharks will travel to Johannesburg at the weekend to face the country's form team at present, the Emirates Lions, in a Vodacom Super Rugby derby with a new flyhalf in Fred Zeilinga, a new captain, and with someone else slotting into the No 7 jersey that was worn by Jean Deysel in the 52-10 defeat to the New Zealand team. Deysel is expected to cop a hefty suspension for kneeing a Crusaders player on the ground, something for which he received a red card.
That of course comes on top of the loss of regular captain Bismarck du Plessis, who is also suspended, as is Frans Steyn. Is it an epidemic? Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold says it isn’t, but he does know his men are up against it and has told the Durban media that it is an emotional time for the team.
And so it should be, for the players showed little signs of any guts or commitment in being buried by the Crusaders, and neither, to be honest, has there been that much indication of them trying to execute a coherent plan for a couple of weeks now, even in their win over the Western Force that preceded the Crusaders debacle.
The pressure will continue to increase if the Sharks don’t turn the corner quickly as more and more people who either work in rugby in Durban or who just support the team are getting disgruntled with the apparent backward step the franchise/union has taken since the then new CEO John Smit unceremoniously showed long serving coach John Plumtree the door a few years ago.
What doesn’t help ease the perception that where it started to go pear-shaped for the Durban franchise was when Plumtree was axed is the success that the Kiwi and former stalwart of the legendary Currie Cup winning 1990 team has achieved since he left KwaZulu/Natal. Since he departed halfway through 2013, Plumtree was the forward coach of a Six Nations winning Ireland team, and is now working with another former Sharks coach in Chris Boyd in driving what so far has been a successful campaign for the Hurricanes in Super Rugby.
The quick change in cultures that the Sharks players have had to endure over the past two years will not have helped, with the Brendan Venter feel good approach being replaced by Jake White’s strict regimented style after just three months, and then White was gone for the Currie Cup and Brad MacLeod-Henderson was in charge, and now Gold is in the hot seat after arriving in Durban just two weeks before the season kicked off because of his Japanese commitments.
That picture is not one of stability, and perhaps it isn’t surprising then that the Sharks are not producing the performances you would expect from them if you look at some of the star players that front them. Whatever the case though, Gold, who hasn’t been responsible for the recruiting of most of the players in his squad and should be working on a long-term plan rather than a short-term one, is under pressure to turn it around, and he does see a small ray of hope.
“It is an emotional time and it is a challenging week for us. People point at the scoreboard, and that is how it should be,” said Gold.
“But I honestly feel this adversity gives us an opportunity for real growth.”
It will be interesting to see what Gold means by that. If the Sharks continue to lose and are knocked out of the conference race, perhaps it will be time for him to shed his team of some of the old stagers and do what Dick Muir did in 2005 by implementing a youth policy and effecting a change of culture directed at building for the future.
With Du Plessis, Steyn, Lambie, Deysel and Willem Alberts all out, the Sharks are now seriously depleted. If they can win without the stars, it should give Gold confidence in backing the youth moving forward. On last week’s evidence though there is going to have to be a big improvement from even those new young players if there is going to be a turn-around in Sharks fortunes any time soon."
COMMENTSThere are some interesting points raised in the article:-
* The mess made by John Smit since he became Director of Rugby and especially the way he got rid of Plumtree. The nitwits on this site wanted to blow their fuses when at the time I wrote that it was a mess and the clear successes by Plumtree as a coach subsequently proved that his firing at the time was a total disaster. The following si of particular importance - highlighting the mess Gold finds himself in:-
"Whatever the case though, Gold, who hasn’t been responsible for the recruiting of most of the players in his squad and should be working on a long-term plan rather than a short-term one, is under pressure to turn it around, and he does see a small ray of hope."
* The red cards of Du Plessis, Steyn and Deysel was no accident. All three were under-performing and the only way they saw how they could stamp their authority in matches was to indulge in dirty and illegal play. It was not the first time this year that it happened to Steyn - he got a yellow card for the same reason in the Stormers game - when he picked on Kolbe to show his superiority and that went pearshaped as well.
* It was not only the above three that was under-performing. You can include in that list the rugby-geriatrics brought in by Smit (Botha, Stevens and Wentzel), Gold's newbie in Murrary and especially also Jannie Du Plessis and even the Beast. None of the mentioned players inspire any confidence and provide any leadership.
* The most important art of the article is the following:-
"f the Sharks continue to lose and are knocked out of the conference race, perhaps it will be time for him to shed his team of some of the old stagers and do what Dick Muir did in 2005 by implementing a youth policy and effecting a change of culture directed at building for the future."
A thorough house cleaning is needed and if Smit is averse to that - he should be part of the cleaning up. The rest of the old guard - the Du Plessis Brothers, Francois Steyn, Willem Alberts and especially the two geriatric locks and Stevens should b e shown the door - since none has been any good this year.
