The Hollywoodbets Sharks host the Scarlets today in a fifth round Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash at Hollywoodbets Kings Park, having gone through a week of serious introspection and a call to arms to produce the kind of performance -and result – the team are capable of achieving.
Head coach John Plumtree acknowledges how challenging it has been for his team, but knows that this week is about redemption.
“We know how important it is in this competition to win our home games and we want to play our best rugby for our fans at this stadium, when that doesn’t happen, it’s terribly frustrating for everyone.
“Everyone was hurting and feeling really bad in the changeroom after last week’s game, it wasn’t a nice place to be,” he admitted.
“We had a tough review on Monday around parts of the game we didn’t control and the players, as well as coaching and management have done some soul-searching, everyone has looked in the mirror and asked the question – where they could be better and what we need to do to prepare for this game.
“Then going out this week and performing not only for our fans, but also ourselves. Some might not see it, but the players are a proud bunch, they’re only human though and sometimes we get things right on the park and sometimes we don’t.
“We’re not searching for any excuses. I’ve had a look at myself and the way potentially I could have managed limited preparation better with those two days of preparation, what I could have done more, or less, and taken that on board.
“I can assure everyone that we are all working hard, as hard as possible. It’s really important that we don’t chuck our processes out and go to work and ask for more effort and fight, prepare as best we can and look forward to the game.”
Having given Eben Etzebeth the captaincy this week, it was a return to protocol for the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
“Eben was always going to be our captain this season,” Plumtree explained. “We thought that after one training session last week, and then his wife had their baby on the Thursday, so his preparation wasn’t ideal and I didn’t want to burden him with the captaincy.
“Siya had a bit on as well, so we thought Vincent, who is well-respected by his peers carried on with the job. The three of those guys will all captain the team at some point this season.”
With the weather expected to be very hot and humid, home ground advantage certainly comes into play.
“We’re used to these conditions and we train in them,” said Plumtree. “But our focus really is on getting our game right and where we need to be. The game could become scrappy with the heat and wet ball, but that doesn’t matter, we’ll deal with that.”