By Lucky Vince Pienaar
It’s that time of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship when the South African teams should be hitting their very best form.
But this weekend the Sharks, the Stormers and the Bulls played as if they were just there to go through the motions and head out for a braai.
Jake White, John Dobson and John Plumtree can’t be described as the Three Stooges of South African rugby yet, but it’s close.
This is about more than just this weekend. Are the South African teams slipping into a losing streak? If they are then the coaches must man up and take responsibility — and that includes World Cup winner Jake White and the masterful John Dobson.
➤ Sharks coach John Plumtree has not had an easy season. Along with his director of rugby, Neil Powell they won’t look back on this year with any sense of achievement, but for the last few weeks, they’ve been playing good, winning rugby.
This weekend, however, it was back to the glum-looking Plumtree and Powell watching their expensive team getting slowly dismantled by the Glasgow Warriors.
➤ Against the Ospreys, the Stormers showed some of their expected sparkle on attack, but their flat-footed defence seemed to always be under siege. Isn’t it time for Manie Libbok to go back to using his kick pass to the wings as a weapon and not a predictable way of giving away possession?
John Dobson always talks about tightening up the discipline but always adds that he doesn’t want to limit the players. Dobson, the brilliant coach that he is, will have to get those players to play for the team and not for personal glory — and to do it for 80 minutes — or they could go back to being a team with permanent potential that breaks down when it matters.
➤ Jake White played a crafty game last week by sending a “B” team to play Northampton Saints. It was an unpopular gamble but it did make sense — except this weekend it backfired.
Playing in Pretoria against Munster they needed to be at their best. But they lacked any sort of determination. They may even have played a worse game than their younger team last week.
➤ The Lions have certainly taken on the challenge. They have been criticised for inconsistency, but this time around they played one of their best games of the season, dramatically taking out log leaders Leinster as if they were a club team. Particularly pleasing was the fact that all the players gave their best. Coach Cash van Rooyen will be delighted. As everybody knows, and Cash knows, he must get that team to do it week after week.
Results:
Glasgow Warriors 21-10 Hollywoodbets Sharks
Glasgow tries: George Horne, Max Williamson, Kyle Steyn
Sharks tries: Daniel Jooste, Ntuthuko Mchunu
Emirates Lions 44-12 Leinster
Lions tries: Morne Van Den Berg, Marius Louw, Quan Horn, Emmanuel Tshituka (2), Francke Horn
Leinster tries: Ciaran Frawley (2)
Vodacom Bulls 22-27 Munster
Bulls tries: Elrigh Louw, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Johan Grobbelaar
Munster tries: Jack Daly, RG Snyman, John Hodnett, Conor Murray
DHL Stormers 21-27 Ospreys
Stormers tries: Daniel du Plessis, Evan Roos, penalty try
Ospreys tries: Luke Morgan (2), Sam Parry, Harri Deaves
Pictured above: Jake, Dobbo and Plumtree.
Image source: Sharks, Bulls and Stormers.
