This past weekend, the Hollwoodbets Sharks welcomed back talisman captain Eben Etzebeth, alongside Lukhanyo Am, Aphelele Fassi and Grant Williams, and he led his star-studded team to an important Vodacom United Rugby Championship victory over Edinburgh.
Team selections over the last six months have been affected by injuries and the last time Hollwoodbets Sharks head coach John Plumtree was able to select his strongest side – before this past weekend – was back in October.
Having two high profile, highly-respected Springboks in Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi in your team is like gold. Both bring an incredible aura, both are talented beyond compare, and both are incredible leaders in their own right.
“Eben was named as our captain at the start of the season, we have two really good leaders in Eben and Siya Kolisi and they work well together,” Plumtree explained.
“It’s too long a season to have just one captain. Siya’s done a great job in that space, but it’s good for him to now just focus on his own game and allow Eben to make the big calls.”
Etzebeth has missed a big part of the campaign, initially after taking a head knock and then suffering concussion that the medical staff felt prudent not to test in the game environment. When he was well on the road to recovery, a hamstring strain suffered on a Springbok alignment camp in March delayed his return even further.
“He’s had a lot of setbacks along the way, it’s been very frustrating for him and it’s good to have him back in there.”
But his return was welcomed and his contribution important as the Hollywoodbets Sharks pulled out all the stops to take an important victory from the first of their two away games before a run of two matches at Hollywoodbets Kings Park close out the pool stages of the tournament.
“Everyone was available for this match, for the first time since the Glasgow match which seems like a long time ago.
“It’s a bit of a relief in that space in the build-up to the play-offs, and the key thing for us is to get the team going now. As much as it is a strong Hollywoodbets Sharks side on paper, the chief challenge for us will be to get our game going.
“A lot of boys – four or five of them – haven’t played for a while, and that’s what we’ve been working really hard on over the last two weeks. Hopefully we’ll see them click into gear and get some rhythm going in our game.”
Plumtree admitted after his team had won the game in the last minute, a try for Makazole Mapimpi in injury time to take an 18-17 victory from a real arm-wrestle of a clash, that the first half had been frustrating, most likely down to the team still building cohesion having not played for so long.
Given the number of changes and players returning from long term injuries, this match was never going to resemble the performance of a well-oiled team who has worked together for a long time. Instead, as Plumtree explained before the match, the challenge was always going to be around getting the individuals to gel as a team.
“It felt a bit like a pre-season hit-out for us,” he admitted. “I don’t want to make any excuses, we have a lot of stars in our team but Edinburgh were outstanding and they’ve got their own stars.
“I think the expectation was that we just roll out this team and it wins every week, but we have to work for it. I’m pleased that we got the win under the belt, but hopefully we’ll be better against Ulster and carry a bit more confidence into the last few games.”
