Sharks coach admits they have been poor on the road

John Plumtree’s problems are growing with every passing week. The latest issue the Sharks mentor faces is his side’s inability to get a win away from home.

The Sharks have not won an away fixture in all competitions this season. Their 32-29 defeat to the Cheetahs on Sunday in the Challenge Cup was their latest defeat on the road.

The team have lost a staggering six games away from home, including an embarrassing 12-10 loss to United Rugby Championship (URC) whipping boys Zebre.

‘Pretty tough’

On their travels the Sharks have lacked energy and accuracy. This was seen when they went to Loftus Versfeld to take on the Bulls and when they faced the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

“It’s pretty tough at the moment,” said Plumtree following their loss to the Cheetahs.

“We want to be successful, we want to do well in this competition. We want to win all the time. Right now we are struggling to win away from home, and that’s disappointing.

“We’ve still got a way to go. We have played some really good rugby at home but we haven’t done it away from home. We just haven’t been clinical enough in certain parts of the game, mainly set pieces.

“It hasn’t functioned away from home. It didn’t function away at the Bulls and didn’t function here.”

Building depth

Outside of the team blowing hot and cold this season, Plumtree’s number one problem at the Sharks has been how to build a team that’s not dependent on internationals.

The veteran coach has stressed he needs good franchise rugby players, not internationals, for the project to progress.

“For us, it’s really about me being a new coach here and wanting to work out the strengths and weaknesses of the players. That’s what I’m steadily trying to do,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter how many Springboks you’ve got, it’s really about how many good URC players you’ve got because that’s the bulk of our team. We haven’t got it all together yet, but we won’t stop trying.”