A post-mortem of the Sharks’ dismal EPCR campaign: One win out of five!

Sharks coaches have been hard-pressed to find positives to take from their campaign across the two European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) tournaments this season.

The Sharks lost 34–21 to Lyon on Sunday to make it one win out of five games across both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, and end their chances at either title.

Last season, the Sharks won the Challenge Cup trophy after winning three pool games and then beating Zebre, Edinburgh, Clermont and Gloucester in the knockout stages. They beat Gloucester 36–22 in the final in England to claim that title.

After crashing out of this season’s Champions Cup with a discouraging accumulative points difference of -87 in their four pool games, they could have thrown everything at defending their second-tier Challenge Cup title.

Instead, head coach John Plumtree fielded a second-string side that was not up to scratch defensively.

While winning seven games in the Challenge Cup last season – and against strong opposition home and away – they couldn’t even win the one round of 16 game they played this year.

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Lyon loss follows three hammerings

Granted, it was a playoff and Lyon are no pushovers at home. But they lie seventh in the Top 14 with nine wins from 20 matches. They finished 11^th last season.

Lyon were also somewhat understrength in the game against the Sharks, missing French wing Ethan Dumortier, Irish flyhalf Paddy Jackson and Fijian centre Semi Radradra.

But the Challenge Cup loss last weekend followed a 10-try 66–12 drubbing by Bordeaux in France, an emphatic 56–17 defeat to Leicester Tigers in England and another one-sided 20–8 loss to Toulouse in Durban, in the Champions Cup.

The Sharks only beat Exeter 39–21 in the opening round of the Champions Cup in December, which feels like a lifetime ago.

In all these games, the Sharks presented holes in their defence and didn’t make up for it in their set-piece battles.

They also time and again failed to take their opportunities to score, as said by captain Siya Kolisi after the Bordeaux game especially.

Sharks failure in EPCR may not reflect overall form

But one should not look at the Sharks EPCR campaign without mentioning their far better showing in the United Rugby Championship (URC) which runs concurrently.

The Sharks won the URC’s SA shield for the first time this season with four wins from six games. It was a sign they are moving in the right direction after a tough 2023/24 season where they didn’t win a single local derby and finished in last place.

The Sharks also sit fourth on the URC overall log with nine wins from 14 games. This is also a sign of improvement after finishing 14th last season with four wins and 14 losses, and therefore not progressing to the playoffs.