Plumtree set for new role at Sharks from end of season

John Plumtree will continue as Hollywoodbets Sharks head coach until the end of the season after which he will switch roles and effectively oversee a new coach in a mentoring and advisory capacity.

It emerged on Tuesday that after a series of meetings Plumtree would move into what initially appeared to be a director of rugby position, with the current coach playing a role in the appointment of the new head coach that he would work with.

However, by the time the Sharks issued their official statement on Wednesday afternoon everything looked a bit more vague, with the Sharks just referring to a “mentoring and advisory capacity” without going into further detail.

The Sharks said in the statement that Plumtree retained their “full support” and it was because of the “significant contributions he has already made, he will move to a mentoring and advisory role.”

Yet in the same press release it was announced they “will engage a technical coach consultant as a matter of urgency to provide input across on-field performance, with particular focus on the game model.”

That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for Plumtree, but there appears to have been acknowledgement from the Sharks decision makers that the buck doesn’t just stop with the coach but with the organisation as a collective.

RECRUITMENT HEAD IN FIRING LINE
 
While it was not mentioned in the press statement, probably for the obvious reasons that there are legalities around hiring and firing and a process to be followed, it is understood the Sharks’ recruitment head Michael Horak is in the firing line. 

Neil Powell, appointed as director of rugby by previous Sharks CEO Eduard Coetzee during the Sean Everitt reign as coach, has also now been more clearly distanced from that role than he was previously.

The former Springbok Sevens coach is to go into a more operational role.

But it was the synergy between coach and the recruitment department headed by Horak that had become a big concern not just during Plumtree’s reign but also that of some of his predecessors.

There will doubtless be many who are up to date with the affairs of the Sharks, and the challenges faced by some of the Sharks coaches who will view a change as both necessary and overdue.

Bartho Hlekani, the Junior Springbok flanker who has been used by Plumtree as a lock this season, is an example of a player who was released to the Lions, a franchise he will link up with at the end of the year, without Plumtree being consulted.

That is a clear example of poor recruitment management and it is understood that it wasn’t just Plumtree who was livid when he learned of that move but also the head of the American consortium who are the Sharks’ equity partners, Marco Massotti.

ONGOING REVIEW

Whether Plumtree does actually get to move into his mooted new role will of course depend on how the Sharks go for the rest of the season, which after all is only a few games old.

Sharks CEO Shaun Bryans confirmed in the statement that “the entire rugby programme will remain under critical review for the rest of the season. The top-to-bottom review will include a detailed assessment of every department and function and will involve external experts to help inform structural and performance improvements.”

It also stated that “Management’s assessment is that the problem is multi-faceted; and we are clear that the long-term success of The Sharks will be best served by tackling issues across the organisation rather than relying on simple fixes.”

FOUGHT FOR HIS ASSISTANTS

It is understood that Plumtree fought hard for the retention of some assistant coaches his bosses were gunning for and has now been given what many have been calling for - which is a chance for him to lead without interference and without the confusion that was being sown over who was in charge. If he has backed his assistants then they can’t be used as an excuse if the Sharks fail.

Plumtree’s loyalty to his assistant coaches might come as a surprise as it is clear that there are massive problems with aspects of the Sharks’ game but it needs to be seen in the context of what support the assistants have had from the Sharks’ system.

Plumtree, a New Zealander, is used to the Kiwi management system in rugby where there is apparently a lot more focus put into reviewing coaches, giving them the tools to succeed and proper due diligence done when it comes to hiring and firing.

Plumtree would also have been mindful of the obstacles the assistants faced going into this season - there was effectively no pre-season for the Sharks as there were sometimes just eight players present at training due to the absence of the Springboks, injuries, the aforementioned dysfunctional communication between the coaches and the recruitment department as well as other factors.

MAY REGRET NOT BEING MORE HARD BALL WITH DEMANDS

His experiences with the efficiency of the New Zealand system may pretty much sum up why Plumtree’s second career as Sharks coach has reached the crossroads that it has - he would have come back to Durban expecting more support from the structures than he received and would have been expecting to link up with a differently run organisation than the one he encountered when he arrived.

He was thrown into the deep end of a pool that was deeper than he expected.

In retrospect Plumtree may regret that he didn’t play hard ball with his new employers and insist on taking the position on his terms or not at all, as he was very much a man alone when he returned after a 10 year absence from Durban.

It might have made sense for him to insist on his own handpicked management team then, or at the very least someone he could trust that he had worked with at the Sharks before and who’d witnessed the problems the franchise had experienced in the interim from close hand.

NEED TO PRODUCE

He has now backed the assistants he inherited and they are going to have to produce, and quickly, to justify Plumtree’s faith in them.

Given that the Sharks will have to go to Connacht at the end of November under-strength because the game clashes with the Bok test against Wales and then play Toulouse in France a week later before the logistical challenge of playing Saracens in Durban in their second Investec Champions Cup game just six days later, Plumtree faces a tough schedule.

What his bosses should be looking for though is some clear improvement to the team’s attack, with the lack of attacking shape and connectedness having become obvious to even part time rugby watchers recently, and also much better organisation on defence as indications that the team is moving forward and can improve.

That in the short term might be even more important than results.

It is not clear at this stage who the Sharks have in mind as the technical consultant, as the press release put it, and whether Plumtree has any say in who is appointed.

If they are to be fair to him, it should be his say, in which case he’d at last be given the clarity that comes with being the clearly recognised leader and decision maker that he should have been from the outset.