Ken Borland

The improvement in Sharks rugby has been most apparent on the field as they led SuperRugby before Covid struck and then reached the final of the Currie Cup, only losing in extra time to the Bulls, but those gains are also dependent on the excellent work done behind the scenes by the administrators.

This may be Sean Everitt’s first major coaching gig but he has a wise rugby head and his player management is superb; the team culture he has helped develop at Kings Park has been phenomenal. The Sharks also have an outstanding CEO of vision in Eduard Coetzee and recently-ascended president Brian van Zyl is a seasoned administrator who built much of the union’s success in the professional era during his time as chief executive.

And the reward for all that good administration has been the confidence expressed in the union by new equity partners MVM Holdings, a consortium with deep pockets, once they had been snubbed by Western Province. That investment will certainly allow the Sharks to bolster their playing resources, and they have done so immediately by signing Springbok captain Siya Kolisi.

But the Sharks are well aware that bagloads of money and buying the best players does not necessarily guarantee success; they know that the entire organisation needs a shared vision that they are all working towards.

That new equity investment means there is suddenly budget for some extra things and I was one of the journalists fortunate enough to be flown down to Durban by the Sharks this week to see Kolisi being officially unveiled as a Sharks player.

And seeing first-hand what is going on at Kings Park, it is obvious that something special is happening and these are very exciting times for the Sharks.

Kolisi spoke about how the whole culture and vibe of the Sharks caught his attention a while back and how obvious it was to him that Durban should be his new home once he had decided to end his 11-year stay in Cape Town.

Following his media duties, Kolisi was part of an induction session with all the wide-eyed new intake of academy players at which Coetzee explained the core values of the Sharks. The motto “We are an inclusive culture underpinned by diversity” featured strongly and the spirit of the Sharks team shows they are living the tenets of that ideal.

The inclusion of all cultures is an obvious part of the team dynamic and Kolisi was part of a ceremony based on the tradition of placing your own stone on a cairn of rocks whenever you should pass by one.

Called Isivivane, it signifies the commitment to contribute your best to the new, shared journey you are embarking on.

Kolisi knows all about commitment – having proposed to his wife Rachel on a helicopter flying over Constantia, they have since built a family that has taken in Siya’s two young half-siblings, who were in foster care.

The Sharks environment is also one of caring, with Coetzee taking pride in how well he treats all his players and staff, although there is a constant focus on meeting the standards required of a top rugby franchise.

Everitt himself popped in even though he is technically still on holiday, and was in good cheer despite the recent trauma of the Currie Cup final.

He will not be putting Kolisi under any extra pressure after the fraught 2020 he had with injuries, Covid and the administrative problems in Western Province rugby. The 29-year-old will be given the time and space to get fully fit and ready in body and mind to produce his best on the field. The captaincy will stay with Lukhanyo Am, whose leadership has been a great positive, but there is no doubt Kolisi will be an inspirational presence.

 From the office of the CEO down to the junior staff, there is just a good energy at Kings Park these days. These are exciting times indeed for Sharks rugby.

Two of the main talking points among South African SuperRugby followers at the moment are the apparent slackening in the defence of the local franchises and the resting of players for the away matches against the Jaguares and Sunwolves.

Questions have been raised about the defence of the South African franchises, especially after the Bulls leaked six tries against the Blues in Auckland last weekend. But it’s not just the Bulls – there are a lot more tries being scored this year in general.

The reason is that over the last year the attack has gone a lot wider and there are more players behind the ball. Sure, the rules have changed a bit, like the tackle law favouring more offloads, but the game has changed over the last year with people more willing now to leave forwards in the wide channels.

Most teams now play 2-4-2 or 1-3-3-1 with their forwards spread out across the field, and we are seeing more loose forwards standing in the backline.

In terms of the tries the Blues scored against the Bulls, we often saw two forwards in the outer extremities running against backs. When you have a big man on a smaller man, you’re more likely to be able to get an offload away. The Blues were able to score either because the Bulls simply ran out of numbers or they were able to effect excellent offloads by having support players behind the ball.

Three or four years ago, teams would have their forwards in two pods of four, but now they leave them in channels across the field and you will often see a hooker or back-row forward in the 15-metres-from-touch zone. The All Blacks have been doing this for the last five years and England did it between 2000 and 2003.

The reason it’s being done is because it’s now been proved, thanks to every player being fitted with a GPS that measures how many metres they have run and at what speed, that a lot less energy is used if the forwards are spread across the field than if they follow the ball. That’s how this new trend has evolved.

I actually thought the quality of the Bulls defence was very good in the first half, but they were found out in the second half when they just ran out of steam, too much juice had been taken out of their legs. That meant the Bulls’ backs and wings were always in a numbers situation, they could not get their width back and get back into line, so they were always under pressure.

To be fair though, the try from the restart was because at the kickoff you usually leave players back – the three outside backs and the scrumhalf on the chip-kick – and with four players out of the defensive line you will be vulnerable. But it was a good try and the Blues’ first try also featured fantastic offloads.

It’s difficult to stop offloads in the wide channels because you’re also dealing with footwork because of all the space available out there.

We always faced these same difficulties against New Zealand sides and some days we were more successful dealing with them than on others. The keys are a high level of conditioning, especially amongst the forwards, and to work hard at the breakdown. If you can’t get tacklers over the ball to slow it down, then the opposition just gets quick ball and quicker ball, and momentum, and then it’s difficult to set a defensive line. That’s what happened to the Bulls and it put Jamba Ulengo under real pressure on the wing.

But Pine Pienaar is an experienced defensive coach, now in his fourth year in the job, and he will be very aware of all this and will know how to fix it. After all, the Blue Bulls made the Currie Cup final last year and you don’t get there without having a good defence.

Handre Pollard had a better game and I’m looking forward to him coming through, he’s going a level up every week.

But it’s an horrendous draw for the Bulls to have all those away games up front, it’s the hardest draw in Super Rugby because you can never get on the front foot. Even a brilliant coach like John Plumtree was let go by the Sharks in 2013 after that sort of draw, and Allister Coetzee also had a season starting with numerous away games with the Stormers.

So it can happen that you get on a downward spiral. Super Rugby is such a tough competition that you always go through crises, but it’s how you deal with them that counts.

There have been suggestions that South African teams are concentrating more on attack to the detriment of their defence, but they will always get enough time during the week to work on their defence, that will never change. Generally teams train for 50 minutes on the Monday, then Tuesday is virtually a full session, the major day for defence, with contact. Then on Thursday attack will be the focus, but it’s not true that teams are concentrating too much on attack!

Each coach will have equal time to work within that on their area, teams split their time evenly between attack and defence.

In terms of weakened teams going to play the Jaguares in Argentina, that would have been pre-planned. Teams have to rest their frontline players in accordance with the Saru guidelines and it’s a helluva trip. You leave on the Sunday morning, flying 10-11 hours to Sao Paulo, where you have a three-hour wait before flying for four hours to Buenos Aires, only arriving on Monday afternoon, so you can’t train then. Teams will have a light practice on the Tuesday, with just one major session on the Thursday.

And coming back from Argentina is even worse!

What coaches like Johan Ackermann and Franco Smith have done is look at their next games and those have been vital, the problem with travelling to Argentina is always the game after that one, but that’s just the nature of the competition.

Singapore is also 10 hours away and it’s very humid and hot there. The Stormers took it as a chance to get some fringe guys some rugby.

Teams are merely following medical advice on how to keep their players fresh and get their best rugby out of them, plus players are more susceptible to ailments on these long trips.

The Lions proved last year that you need home advantage to win SuperRugby, but they needed to be at their best in the knockout games, hence their decision to rest players for their last round-robin game in Argentina.

John McFarland is the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game. Before that, McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.