John Plumtree has rued the impact of South Africa’s exit from Super Rugby, which he believes has “lost a bit of spice”.

Speaking after his announcement as new Sharks head coach this week, Plumtree also lamented the challenges the SA teams face when competing in the northern hemisphere, raising an eyebrow at the amount of travelling they have done in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions this season.

The New Zealander believes it’s “not an even playing field”, and that it would’ve been a lot less travel if local franchises stayed in Super Rugby – the DHL Stormers, Vodacom Bulls, Sharks and Lions departed the old SANZAAR competition for the inaugural URC in 2021.

“It’ll be interesting to see how the Boks go against the All Blacks this year, having not played the Kiwis for a while at Super Rugby level,” he said. “But certainly from Australia and New Zealand perspective they’ve missed the Springboks. The competition has lost a bit of spice.

“The Springboks and SA sides are certainly missed.”

He added: “The Sharks certainly have to be more adaptable in how we play and negotiate travel, and I think that’s where my experience can really help out. We need to manage the wear and tear of the group, with all the travel.

“The SA teams are doing more of the travelling than the other teams, maybe based around the fact there are more teams in the UK. But it does make it tougher with all that travel, and I’ve seen how that has affected the Sharks.

“[But] it’s definitely not an even playing field if you see the amount of travelling the boys have to do, especially going via Doha and stuff like that, seems like madness.

“So it seems like they would’ve done a lot less travelling if they had stayed in Super Rugby.”

Turning his attention to this weekend and the URC quarter-final between the Sharks and Leinster in Dublin on Saturday, he said: “It’s going to be tough to beat Leinster in Leinster, and particularly with the injuries that the Sharks have got [at the moment].

“Leinster are well ahead of most teams, and certainly well ahead of the Sharks in terms of their development as a team. However, not impossible, and I’m sure the boys are talking about that.”

Plumtree coached the Sharks from 2008 to 2012, as well as the All Blacks as an assistant coach, the Hurricanes as a head coach, and Ireland as an assistant coach.

During his time with the Sharks, he won the Currie Cup twice and reached the Super Rugby final in 2012. He also won the Super Rugby title with the Hurricanes in 2016.