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 the operations as director of rugby in an advisory capacity to a new coach.

The Sharks were set to issue a statement late on Tuesday after a series of meetings that lasted the best part of two days but by lunchtime Wednesday there had been no statement as yet and some media had picked up from a Sharks players’ WhatsApp notification that the Plumtree would be vacating his current position at the end of the season.

However it is understood that the story does not stop there and that Plumtree will not be taking a clean break from the Sharks but be redeployed, effectively giving a new coach the buffer and the support he did not have when he came in as the new Sharks coach in 2023. When Plumtree arrived at the Sharks he had not been involved with them since he was asked to clear his desk when John Smit took over from Brian van Zyl as CEO in 2023 and he didn’t only inherit a playing group he had not worked with before, he also inherited assistant coaches and backroom staff that he had had no previous dealings with.

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 man alone when he returned after a 10 year absence. It might have made sense for him to insist on his own management team, or at the very least someone he could trust that he had worked with at the Sharks before.

When he arrived there was a director of rugby in place in the form of Neil Powell, but Powell was recruited from a successful career coaching the Springbok Sevens team and although he had spent a year or two at the franchise when Plumtree arrived, his experience of the 15-man game was far less than that of the former All Black and Ireland assistant and Sharks, Hurricanes and Swansea head coach.

Powell was told at the time that his focus would henceforth be on the youth levels at the Sharks but he retained his directorship role. It is now understood that Powell will be moved on to an administrative or operational role only, and that does leave the directorship for Plumtree to move into at the end of this season.

It is also understood that the Sharks’ head of recruitment Michael Horak has been in the firing line over the past few days, and pending the official announcement later on Wednesday, it is uncertain whether he has a future at the union/franchise. The Sharks’ recruitment and lack of synergy/communication with them has been a complaint of Sharks coaches who preceded Plumtree, who has sometimes found out about players they rate being released before they had been consulted on it.

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.

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. However, given that it is understood that Plumtree fought hard for the retention of some assistant coaches said to be under threat at the meeting, he has now been given what many have been calling for - which is a chance to lead without interference.

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.