STRIKING IT RICH: Answering Sharks critics while sweating on the WTC final

NOTE FROM TWO PREVIOUS TRIPS

There was no Striking it Rich column to accompany it but as this latest trip to Durban comes to an end ahead of the return to Cape Town, perhaps it is instructive given the criticism that is raining down on the Hollywoodbets Sharks to refer back to the previous two.

The most recent was in March, a journey that took me by road from Cape Town to Chintsa in the Eastern Cape, where a good week was spent at the Buccaneers Beach Lodge nee Backpackers (as fine a retreat to escape from the stresses of life as you will find) while waiting for a cell-phone to be fixed in East London (that never happened), before heading onwards to Ballito.

The main mission from a work viewpoint was to be at the Sharks games against Zebre and Leinster preceding an annual break at my timeshare in the Drakensberg.

I got to Kings Park from Ballito via two days in Hluhluwe/Mfolozi Game Reserve, a decision that was made at the T-Junction on the road out of Ballito. South was Durban, north was Zululand and beyond that even Mozambique. There was time to kill and adventure in the veins.

So I turned right, stopped initially at Zinkwazi with the idea of putting up a tent in the Zinkwazi Lagoon Caravan Park, which looked like a good place, but then decided it wasn’t far enough. A drive was needed.

The Hilltop Camp in Hluhluwe isn’t what it used to be, but then maybe that’s a good thing as it’s less commercialised and therefore maybe better for those of us who like rustic. The key thing - leaving there in the early morning gave me plenty of time to drive to Durban and get there in time for the game.

The Sharks didn’t play like they had time to kill in the first parts of their game against Zebre. They played at a hundred miles an hour, passing the ball this way and that. After 10 minutes it looked like Zebre were going to be run off their feet.

The Sharks scored twice, and the style of rugby they were playing evoked images of the late Izak van Heerden, dead since 1973 but still with an influence on what the Sharks’ DNA should be.

It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so what could get in the way of the Sharks? They looked set to run riot. Only it didn’t work out that way because a sunny afternoon in Durban in March comes with a catch. Humidity.

Not only did that mean the big men in the Sharks’ pack were going to feel stretched if that continued, it also meant that once time had allowed their sweat to impact on the ball, mistakes were going to be made.

Which they were. And the Sharks damn nearly lost the game. Their coach John Plumtree told me afterwards they’d played the wrong game. Which they did.

THE GLASGOW GAME

Yet they had played a crowd-pleasing attacking game on my previous trip to Kings Park, that one being the game against Glasgow Warriors in October. Glasgow, as they tend to make a habit of, came back with two late tries to get two bonus points, but the Sharks had effectively won the game after the end of the third quarter.

More than that, they’d been good on attack even though the Springboks had only just been reintroduced to the team at the end of their Rugby Championship duties. It was the same the following week. Munster were dispatched, and so was their coach Graham Rowntree.

The difference between those two games and the ones against Zebre and then Leinster? There wasn’t any humidity around in those October games, the Sharks could play ball in hand rugby. In the months from December to March the conditions in Durban just aren’t conducive to ball in hand rugby.

And if you disagree, think back. Remember that horrible game against the Reds in the Super Rugby era? I think the end score was 6-5. And it was by no means an outlier.

There should not be moisture about in the month of May, if you play in the afternoon. But the games that most invoked the ire of the critics because of lack of aesthetic appeal, against Ospreys, Scarlets and Munster, were played after dark, when there is dew.

It was why their opponents were as much a comedy of errors when it came to handling as the Sharks were.

NO SURPRISE THAT BULLS ARE IN DUBLIN FINAL

There’s a perception the Sharks should be winning everything because they have so many Springboks but that is a perception built on ignorance of what having so many Boks brings at this time when South Africa’s international players have no fixed off-season.

The team with the most squad depth is hosting Saturday’s Vodacom URC final. There shouldn’t really be a surprise there. The Dublin outfit are close to being a full international team. And there also shouldn’t be a surprise that while their opponents aren’t the next richest team in the competition (I believe that’s actually the Glasgow Warriors), the Vodacom Bulls are the South African franchise with the best contracting model.

Not the Sharks? Nope, far from it. The perception that because the Sharks are loaded with World Cup winners they should win every game with something to spare would have validity if the franchises were still playing Super Rugby. Back then there was a clearer distinction between the international season and the club/provincial season.

The perception the Sharks should win everything would also have currency if this was a country like Ireland where there was a proper off-season and the club seasons and international seasons were aligned. They aren’t aligned. Leinster’s international players get a proper off-season, the Sharks’ Boks don’t.

Not only is Sharks coach John Plumtree denied an opportunity to have an offseason with his top players, this past weekend he also didn’t get a chance at a very necessary season wash-up and review. Because the Boks went straight into camp to start preparations for the international season.

Apparently the Sharks did still have their wash-up, but less than half the players were there. And that, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with the Sharks - if indeed there is anything “wrong” with a team that improved from a 14th place finish in the URC to third.

JAKE CONTRACTS PLAYERS WITH SOMETHING TO PROVE

Okay, so I can almost hear a chorus that goes something to the effect of “What about Handre Pollard?” Pollard is an exception, or is he at this time when there is so much focus on the precociously talented Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu? SFM’s stocks are on the rise, and Pollard might be motivated to shine on the local stage in his quest to remain the Bok first choice No 10.

The other Bok that White is bringing back is Jan Serfontein. The most consistent Bok in the Allister Coetzee tenure has bizarrely never played under Rassie Erasmus. So he has something to prove.

When Wilco Louw returned he had something to prove, when Cobus Wiese returned from overseas he also did so with something to prove. Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg has been part of Bok squads but also has something to prove.

White was asked a smarmy question about his willingness to continue with his job after the Bulls lost their quarterfinal to the Stormers in Cape Town in 2023. He responded that he had plans in place to redress the weaknesses that had been exposed.

He did that by recruiting both players and coaches and since then the Bulls have had two second place finishes on the URC log. While he never misses an opportunity to lament the fact he can’t bring home more than just Pollard, with the likes of RG Snyman and Lood de Jager on his supposed wish list, he also probably understands there is a tipping point when it comes to the number of top Boks you can have on your books.

The Sharks may be starting to understand that now and I’d be surprised if they didn’t find ways to offload some of their Boks over the next two seasons.

REUNION WEEKENDS BRING PERSPECTIVE TO EXPATS

So I didn’t make it to Loftus for last week’s URC semifinal after all and instead opted to stay in Durban for the Northwood reunion weekend. Northwood v Hilton itself wasn’t really the draw and I think there’s quite a lot of negative in the amount of angst put into schools rugby in this country. More on that in the next edition of this column.

But what was a draw was the crowd that turned out and the reunion breakfasts and dinners that preceded match day. Catching up with long lost friends now living overseas is always good fun and while there may be concerns about the fallacy that schoolboys should be trained and prepared as if they were all going to go on to play pro rugby, which very few of them do, there is no concern over the vibrant, colourful way that the rugby is supported.

If you haven’t already, look up the Northwood social media pages around the crowd support for an example of what I am talking about.

Certainly the cross race and cultural divide sense of togetherness and the vibrant way life is celebrated at a school like Northwood does give the lie to some of the overseas perceptions and this wasn’t the first year I got the impression that some of the expats who’d come out for the occasion were pleasantly surprised at the difference from perception.

One of those this time around was Chris ‘Kippy’ Smith, one of the first South African cricketers (after Tony Greig and Basil de Oliviera) to play for England. Kippy matriculated nearly a decade before I did and had not been in Durban since the 1982/1983 cricket season.

Apart from seeing him at the school I also bumped into him walking along the Umhlanga promenade on the Saturday morning. He was fascinated by all the Comrades runners doing their final prep for the next day by participating in the local Park Run, particularly the multiracial nature of it and the singing of Shosholoza etc.

We walked together for a bit and in that conversation Kippy told me that after playing cricket in England and then working in Australia, where he’s now lived for many years, he has often been asked what he considers himself to be - South African, English or Australian. He told me that after this visit he was a lot more certain about what he is - a South African living in Australia.

SUNDAY WAS QUITE A DAY

Five hours and 29 minutes. That was how long it took for Alan Robb to finish the 1978 Comrades Marathon, which as mentioned last week still rates as my favourite Comrades performance just because the Liverpool-supporting Germiston Callies runner wasn’t pushed. If ‘Dancing’ Dave Wright had been closer than 19 minutes behind him maybe Robb’s time would have been even quicker.

Five hours 29 minutes. No, that wasn’t the Comrades winning time this past Sunday. Tete Dijana won the most recent Comrades in a time of five hours, 25 minutes and 28 seconds. Unlike Robb 47 years ago, Dijana was pushed all the way to the finish. Which made for great television. The 5:29 recorded this past Sunday was actually the time it took Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to complete their French Open final.

After watching the Comrades for much of the day you wouldn’t have thought there was enough energy to watch more sport, but the Alcaraz/Sinner duel drew me in while having a drink with friends at Northwood Crusaders sports club and then it was impossible to get away from it.

It just goes to show that when old heroes - Nadal, Federer and soon Djokovic - fade and retire, there are always new ones to replace them. The epic Borg/McEnroe Wimbledon face-off in around 1979/1980 and the Nadal/Federer Wimbledon final in 2008 were my two best tennis matches of all time before this past Sunday, but now even those epics have been eclipsed.

There were others of my ken who watched football after the tennis, but even if you didn’t go that far the 5.45am start for Comrades running through to the Roland Garros finish made Sunday quite a day for sports watchers. You could call it an ultra-marathon day.

GOOD LUCK WITH THOSE NERVES

This Friday is one that might be more than just a little bit frayed for South Africans with dickey hearts. A hot day is predicted at Lord’s and as Kevin Pietersen has pointed out several times in commentary, there are usually third day runs to be had at Lord’s. Particularly if the sun does shine, as it is predicted it will.

That it has been a bowlers match so far in the World Test Championship final is entirely predictable, even though the extent to which the ball has dominated may not be. Both South Africa and Australia have outstanding bowling attacks, while both batting line-ups are vulnerable, as illustrated by both of them batting players who are normally middle order allrounders at No 3.

The Proteas, because they play so little test cricket, are particularly brittle when they bat. Not because they lack ability, because they do have players with ability and great potential, but just because the batters don’t play enough to develop to the point where they have the numbers behind them that would inspire confidence.

So there was probably a collective sigh of relief around the country when Temba Bavuma elected to field first on that first day, and not just because of the cloudy skies over London.

It is a huge pity that Dean Elgar is not still playing international cricket. If he was there today, opening with one of Aiden Markram or Ryan Rickelton with the other batting at three, I’d be a lot more confident.

However, two good partnerships will be enough to chase down a score of between 230 and 250. It is if the Aussies stretch the lead to more then it could be beyond them. But the Proteas are in with a sniff, and if this game has done nothing else it has sent out a reminder that a stronger SA team would strengthen the test game. It is a shame this country doesn’t take the format more seriously.