Plumtree gives Sharks a ‘pass mark’ against Ospreys

Sharks head coach John Plumtree said his team allayed his fears about their game against Ospreys played in wet conditions, and gave him a performance he could certainly be happy with.

The Sharks secured a bonus-point win, with five tries to one, against the Welsh side at Kings Park Stadium on Friday night to exert more pressure on Glasgow Warriors and Bulls, who are just ahead of them on the United Rugby Championship log.

The only drawback from the 29–10 result in Durban was the carting off of captain Eben Etzebeth, who Plumtree said hopefully just had a hematoma on his knee, though a scan in the coming days would confirm whether that was the case.

Sharks coach was ‘worried’

“I was worried about this game, particularly when I turned up and saw the [wet] pitch,” Plumtree said.

“I thought we had a lot of powerful running tonight with our loose forwards and our tight forwards, guys like Jason Jenkins really stood up tonight. We were pretty clinical, particularly when we got inside the 22 with the work we were doing in the pack. That was good to see.”

The tries from Jenkins, André Esterhuizen, Ethan Hooker and Phepsi Buthelezi mean the Sharks are now guaranteed a finish in the top four after their final game against Scarlets next weekend. Finishing fourth will mean a home quarter-final against the team finishing fifth at the end of the month. If the Sharks can move above Glasgow or Bulls, they will play against a team lower on the table.

“The boys wanted to play a big game for Bongi [Mbonambi], on his 50^th cap. So yeah, it was a pass mark. But we are heading in the right direction,” Plumtree added.

‘It became a kick battle, a set-piece battle’

He said the pitch was very wet with the rain, and the ball was slippery. This required a “workmanlike performance” that “took away attractive rugby from both sides”.

“It became a kick battle, a set-piece battle and really just a mindset keeping the ball in front of our forwards and obviously our defence. I thought we were pretty good in that space.”

The Sharks coach said a couple of Ospreys players had proven difficult at the breakdown, including their captain Jac Morgan, who played at openside flanker.

“We knew that Jac Morgan was going to be a threat tonight and he showed why he is going on that [British & Irish Lions] tour.

“But I am happy with our defence. We had to grind it out. I saw how important it was we didn’t get sick of doing all the little things right, just keep the ball in front of the forwards and making sure they didn’t gain any real ascendancy.

“Here and there we got patchy with our scrums but once we settled down we were alright.”