Hollywoodbets Sharks head coach John Plumtree pronounced himself fairly satisfied with the way the two matches went on Friday evening when an invitational team hosted Saracens and the Carling Currie Cup victory over the Airlink Pumas at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
Commenting on the 19-13 win over the Airlink Pumas that resonated well as the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV’s third straight victory in the competition, he admitted that, “It was perfect for what we needed, a really physical game.
“We knew it would be like that with the situation the Airlink Pumas were in, so I’m really proud of the boys.
“The VURC players got a really good hit-out and I’m very happy with some of the young players I’ve seen as well. All in all, good, but a bit upset about Emile van Heerden hurting his shoulder and hopefully that’s not serious.
“It’s always nice to win at home.”
Given that many of the players hadn’t seen action in a competitive game environment since their last match – the Vodacom United Rugby Championship semi-final back in June– he accepted that execution wasn’t quite on the money, which was always to be expected in a first hit-out for the players who haven’t played in three months.
“We were a little bit rusty, the team hadn’t played together for a while and I thought we were a bit inaccurate inside our 22. We finished off a little bit more in the second half which is pleasing to see, it was something we talked about at half-time.
“Some of our defence was on the money, really aggressive and Joey Mongalo will be very happy with that.”
In summation he was generally happy, saying, “A big tick, but a little bit disappointed that we probably lost Emile like that.”
There were a number of dual performers on the evening, players who had enjoyed game time in the curtain-raiser friendly against the touring Saracens’ side and then were called up to play in the Carling Currie Cup match against the Airlink Pumas.
“That was classic, a bit like the old days of sitting on the bench for both teams. I was really proud of that group as well, those players played against a pretty strong Saracens’ team.
“At 70 minutes, we were up but just couldn’t maintain it. There were a lot of changes, it got disjointed and there were players we didn’t really even know!
“But it was a good hit-out for those boys too and hopefully Saracens got what they wanted out of it.”
This weekend, the team are up against DHL Stormers in George for a second pre-season warm-up match, and Plumtree confirmed that, “We’ll take 28 players down there and work on some of the things we know we need to work on. Then hopefully we avoid some injuries and set ourselves up nicely for the tour.”