Sharks mentor Plumtree calls out players for not showing up

Sharks coach John Plumtree blasted his players for not showing up in their 44-10 defeat to the Bulls in a United Rugby Championship match played at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

After starting the URC season with five losses on the trot, the Sharks seemed to have turned the corner when a number of their internationals returned to the team and they registered a solid 69-14 win over the Dragons in Durban the week before.

However, this last Saturday’s showing against the Bulls in Pretoria highlighted just how far behind the other South African teams, and especially the Bulls, the Sharks have fallen.

‘Not a team yet’

The Sharks started well enough at Loftus Versfeld but then quickly faded away and were ultimately hammered 44-10. Much was made of the clash before the time, with several World Cup winners returning to action for both teams, but the Sharks never properly pitched up.

“Very disappointed, very surprised as well,” said Plumtree. “I thought we were a little bit ahead of that, but we are not a team yet.

“The Bulls side is a real team. Collectively they are a bit ahead of us, so it’s our challenge, we have got to dig deep and become a team. We didn’t look like we got a lot of things right tonight (Saturday). Physically we didn’t look like we were in the right space and a lot of guys missed their mental prep because we didn’t come here.

“We felt like we had a good week but there are a lot of individuals in this team that didn’t turn up,” he said.

No foundation

Plumtree called out his players for looking rusty in what was supposed to be a tight and even contest.

“The foundation of this team is not solid enough and we have to sort that out,” Plumtree said.

“We have to look at ourselves. It looked like there were pretty rusty rugby players out there, not just the ones I had all the time (during the season) and the ones that just returned from France. Hopefully, they’ll be better off after that performance next week,” he said.

On Saturday, the Sharks will take on French Top 14 side Pau in the Challenge Cup in Durban.