Ken Borland

Considering the big money backing them up, the Sharks’ early form this season was shameful and led to their critics picking apart the franchise. And the consensus seemed to be that their pipeline was to blame, with insufficient depth to make up for the erratic availability and form of their many Springbok stars.

The once-vaunted Sharks Academy was a particular focal point and the franchise’s management have confirmed that revamping that feeder is a priority. Critics of the Academy say that it has become too focused on earning money – allowing lesser players to buy their way into the program – rather than being an impactful high performance set-up.

Director of Rugby Neil Powell has pointed to the success of the Sharks’ junior teams as evidence that their contracting and pipeline are perhaps not as bad as many have portrayed.

“Last season the U19s finished second in their competition, the U20s won their’s unbeaten and the U21s were beaten by one point in the semi-finals,” Powell said. “Which shows our rugby strategy revolves around having a sustainable and successful system, not just one team. We believe success in the foundation phases will filter through to the flagship team.

“We are also looking at a rebuild of our Academy. Coenraad de Villiers headed up the Western Province Academy and we want him to create a high-performance environment which is also a feeder into our system. We have two groups of U19 players here – those who are contracted and those who come to the commercial academy, which has not been a big feeder in the past few years. We’re on a journey to turn that around, which is why we’ve got Coenraad.

“We want to change the perception of the academy: we want a quality rugby program, but the teaching must also be holistic. We want to make sure ambitious kids come into the academy, the expectation is that they develop into good rugby players and hopefully kick on.

“In terms of recruitment, we follow a hybrid approach: We identify world-class talent to obtain but we also want to build through our junior structures. The thinking is that recruiting from the outside is more specific, it’s about certain positions. In a couple of years we hope to be recruiting more from our own systems than from outside.

“It’s crucial that the junior system understands what it takes to be professional, so we can make sure they can filter into the senior system. Players will also not leave if they have love for the Sharks, if they feel at home here. The plan is to bring players through from U21 to the Currie Cup, blood them there, and if they pass that test then they can move on to the United Rugby Championship,” Powell said.

Sharks chief executive Eduard Coetzee, who will vacate his position in July to take up a post in Europe with MVM Holdings, the franchise’s majority investors, has said, however, that they will continue to target high-profile signings as well. He says big-name signings are good for the brand and encourage further investment from commercial partners.

“The market perception is that we contract from the top down, but other teams do this too. The schoolboy pathway is unbelievably important for us too. We have 10 schools in KZN who play at the elite level and they have probably been over-aggressive in scouting for players. In terms of rugby scholarships, R75 million is spent annually by those schools. It’s not healthy, but it’s not just in KZN that it is happening.

“We have to build a programme in conjunction with what the schools are doing. We track players from U12 and we filter in the ones good enough to play professional rugby. From U15 they come through our system and junior structures and they become Sharks. It’s important to have numbers in our academy, while Neil Powell and John Plumtree focus on high performance, and there needs to be a synergy between those two. Just filling in numbers is not good enough for what we require. The academy was owned by third parties, but that has now all been bought back and we hope that it will be an environment that young kids want to be part of.

“Sometimes we do bring in someone with celebrity power, but our focus is definitely our pipeline, so hopefully that dispels that myth. We do have so many Springboks and that has led to long discussions at Board level. It’s wonderful for the Sharks to have World Cup winners walking around Kings Park. Pre-Covid, we had R60 million worth of sponsorship and in the last four years we have doubled that. I believe people and businesses see something different about us: I would say it’s the way we treat each other and the reach of our brand.

“But we are almost victims of our own success having so many Springboks, and there has been a shortfall in terms of our rugby. We are planning the whole make-up of our squad totally differently next season,” Coetzee said.

Former Springbok wing JP Pietersen is an integral part of that planning.

“Our focus points are our coaching structure – to have the right people in the right places; the recruitment and elevation of senior players; a long-term succession plan for our junior group; and the culture and environment of the Sharks,” Powell said. “We want consistency across our structures in terms of coaching and culture. If possible, we would like to fill all coaching vacancies from within the system. JP Pietersen is the head of our junior structures and is also very passionate about the Sharks. He came here as a 19-year-old and went on to play 70 Tests. This is his home.”

While a group of happy players is obviously a positive, some critics say the Sharks are all about the good vibes and culture but are lacking the hunger and grit that comes from hard work.

“The aim is to have a culture that is tough but enjoyable, and to ensure that all the players we recruit can fit into that culture. If we make things too easy, then there won’t be a high enough work ethic and the players will not get fulfilment. Healthy internal competition is how you get the best out of the players,” Powell said.

Now that the painful Test series in Australia is over, the critics no longer need to sit in their chairs in front of the TV in the early hours of the morning and jeer the Proteas, and the anticipated extravaganza that the SA20 will be should distract attention anyway.

But one hopes what transpired in Australia is not forgotten, lost in the hurly-burly of the new T20 league and just the sheer volume of cricket and sport that constantly competes for attention. Let’s not forget that the Proteas also spent October and November in Australia, playing in the T20 World Cup, where they bowed out at the hands of minnows the Netherlands. The anger over that fiasco may have died down a bit, but the promise of a full review by Cricket South Africa has not been forgotten. The outcome of that review and the rebuilding strategies decided upon are now overdue.

The responsibility for making sure lessons are learnt from the 2-0 hiding (it surely would have been 3-0 but for rain) lies with the administrators, who now have the opportunity to ensure something good comes out of the ruins.

The current team and their coaches, plus the former players working as commentators in Australia, have all pinpointed the amount of domestic first-class cricket, as well as the standard, as being the main cause of the woeful performances of the Proteas lately. So that is surely where CSA need to start their autopsy.

CSA’s current executives inherited a house that was in drastic need of renovation and Proteas fans need to realise that there are no quick fixes at international level. But that is no excuse for inaction and CSA need to come up with definite plans that have the health of the Proteas – still by far their greatest source of income – as the greatest priority.

It is all very well if the next month is spent admiring the dazzling front garden of the house that is the SA20, but the fire that is raging in the kitchen needs some attention too.

The Proteas cricket team have already surrendered the series to Australia, soundly beaten in the first two Tests, and they have certainly been accessories to their own demise, so hopefully they can reverse that trend and spare their blushes in the third and final Test that starts in Sydney in the early hours of Wednesday morning (SA time).

While South Africa’s recent batting performances have been a crime against the decorated legacies of great batsmen that have represented the country before in Australia, like Jacques Kallis, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla, the line-up for the third Test simply have to dig deep within themselves and supplement whatever technical skill they can muster with tremendous determination and a bloodyminded refusal to give their wickets away.

As impressive as the Australian attack have been, there have been too many soft dismissals; avoiding run outs will help for a start.

The South African batsmen have the talent to be performing much better, they just need to show more mental steel. Which is tough to do when the team has taken a battering and confidence is low.

But there comes a time when a line in the sand has to be drawn and an attitude of “over my dead body” adopted; a New Year’s Test seems a most apt time for this to happen.

The time has come for the Proteas to belatedly be impertinent guests and produce some much-needed defiance when the third and final Test against Australia starts at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the early hours of Wednesday morning (SA time).

The series is gone after the Australians ran roughshod over the Proteas in Brisbane and Melbourne but, astonishingly given how poor their recent form has been, South Africa are still in contention for a place in the World Test Championship final. But victory in Sydney is vital, not just to keep that door open, but also to arrest what has been a humiliating slide in the performance of their batsmen.

While a return to the nastiness of the 2018 series is not wanted, there is a feeling that the Proteas have been too nice, a bit too soft, with their opposition and it is time they stood up and refused to be bullied.

It took one of the youngest players in the squad, 22-year-old Marco Jansen, to voice the necessity for the Proteas to show some mongrel.

“We know everyone is giving their best, but we all need to try and figure out what we can do as an individual for the betterment of the team,” Jansen said on Monday.

“You’re not always going to get hundred partnerships or two batsmen getting centuries so you score more than 500 and win; sometimes it might be about taking five blows to the body or bowling seven consecutive overs.

“Whatever you can do as an individual, sometimes a 70-run partnership can be the matchwinning one. We need to try and recognise those small moments that all add up and can make a big difference.

“We have the skill. It’s just about making a mental shift, a conscious decision to put your hand up and do whatever it takes to influence the team in a positive way,” Jansen said.

A confident Australian team spares nobody and South Africa need to show the same ruthlessness.

“We need to try and see those moments when the opposition is not comfortable, not shy away, and go even harder,” Jansen added. “We have no choice now, we have to take a difficult situation and turn it into a positive.

“We can choose either to run away or front up, which gives you the best chance of performing. It has not been easy on the field, but we will definitely face the challenge.

“We have three Tests until the World Test Championship final and we want to win all three to have the best chance of qualifying.

“So we are not just thinking this is another game and we can just cruise through. There is still a big goal and purpose for us,” Jansen said.