By Lucky Vince Pienaar
- Chasing the money to keep the national structure from falling apart is one thing.
- But the answer does not lie in driving the best rugby players in the country off their feet until they are beyond tired and suffering from grinding fatigue.
You simply cannot unsee what you’ve seen if you watched the Sharks get destroyed by a rampaging Bordeaux Bègles team that ran in ten tries at the Stade Chaban-Delmas stadium in the south of France.
Once again, the Sharks team was stacked with Springboks. Eben Etzebeth was unavailable (as seems to happen a lot at the moment), but all the usual stalwarts were there.
The front row Springboks of Trevor Nyakane, Bongi Mbonambi, and Ntuthuko Mchunu were there, and so was Siya Kolisi. Grant Williams was behind the scrum.
Ox Nché and Jaden Hendrikse came off the bench.
But were they really there?
The Sharks started well, with Siya Masuku and Hakeen Kunene scoring tries, giving the Sharks a 12-0 lead after only seven minutes. And after that, there was nothing. It was as if they simply weren’t on the field—as if they were running on empty.
Feeling sorry for coach John Plumtree is not an option, but feeling sorry for the exhausted Sharks players is a different matter.
Yes, they are professional players, and they make a lot of money, but these players are at that stage where “being tired” turns into “grinding fatigue.” As they say, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
In the Autumn Nations Series only two months ago in November, these players played rugby as tough as at the World Cup, and they have not stepped off the treadmill since then.
When Captain Siya Kolisi plays for the Springboks, he is amongst players who are as good and committed as he is. When he plays for the Sharks, he has the additional burden of being an example to the other players. When Eben Etzebeth is in the black jersey, he is elevated to the status of a miracle worker. It’s as if half the team is standing around waiting for him to beat the opposition by himself – and if he doesn’t do it, the fans complain.
John Plumtree has failed, and Neil Powell has done nothing to stop the collapse. John Dobson is getting to breaking point, and so is Frans Steyn at the Cheetahs. Jake White has spoken out about the hectic schedule.
Something needs to be done at a strategic level. The structure is getting more and more expensive every day. But chasing the money to keep the structure going by sacrificing these willing workhorses until they collapse is not the answer.
Pictured above: Eben Etzebeth.
Source: Sharks/X
