'We expected so much more... We know what quality we’ve got in this group and we just have to look in the mirror and come with a different mindset.'
The Sharks will take a hard look in the mirror and refuse to blame external factors for their defeat to Ulster, despite playing at home with 13 Springboks in their starting XV and four more on the bench.
The star-studded side lost 34-26 to a decent if not brilliant Irish side at the Sharks Tank, extending their winless run in the United Rugby Championship to four matches after away defeats to Glasgow Warriors and Leinster, and a draw to Dragons.
The Sharks lie 14th on the table with just three points. It’s a far cry from their third-place finish last year, where they also won the SA Shield for the first time, but reminiscent of their 14th-place finish in 2023/24.
They only recorded four wins in that season, which was John Plumtree’s first year in charge.
‘We know what quality we’ve got’
“Just disappointing. We expected so much more,” Plumtree said after the Ulster loss. “It’s hard to get my head around right now. We looked flat.”
He said the Sharks had opportunities through scrum penalties to get into Ulster’s 22, but “just didn’t turn up physically”. Meanwhile, Ulster were clinical and Plumtree praised their four tries.
The Sharks coach said Siya Kolisi’s 32nd minute try gave them hope as they went into half-time 20-5 down. Makazole Mapimpi’s try again lifted their spirits but then Vincent Koch’s yellow card, and Mapimpi’s yellow upgraded to red, “killed us really”.
“The comeback was always going to be difficult after that. But it was a bad night for us, there are no excuses here.
“We know what quality we’ve got in this group and we just have to look in the mirror and come with a different mindset and try and get back in this tournament. To go without a win in four games in a row, one at home, is not a great start.”
Sharks have it all to do
Plumtree said New York-based Marco Masotti, the head of 51% Sharks shareholder MVM Holdings, would be disappointed in how the team is doing.
The coach said he could make excuses about a lack of pre-season and poor team cohesion with five Springboks coming back from international duty into the side this week, but that was not his nature.
“When you look at the Springboks coming back into the teams, it’s always been a bit of a tough start, a bit rusty. Again, we can go into the excuse space but we know what we needed to do tonight and that was get five points to get five points to get back into this competition. To get one is not good enough.
“We’re not going into that space because the boys were hurting in the changeroom. They won’t want to go into that space themselves, they know they are better than that.”
When asked why the Sharks had struggled in the URC and EPCR tournaments over the past few years even though they had one of the best teams on paper, Plumtree said, “That’s a million-dollar question, mate. I wouldn’t know. You’ll have to decide that one for yourself.”
However, he said everyone was working as hard as they could to get results.
