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.

The Bulls have obviously done plenty of work honing their bodies in the gym and on their skills, but for Victor Matfield, one of their great former players, it was their heart that stood out as they clinched the Currie Cup final with a thrilling comeback and an extra-time try.

Matfield was a driving force behind the last great era of Bulls rugby when they won three SuperRugby and five Currie Cup titles between 2002 and 2010, and he sees a similar sort of belief building in this current Bulls side.

“It was a great final and the Bulls had to adjust to a lot – coming off the field for lightning, having to play extra time … They showed a lot of character because they were deep in trouble. In normal time they managed to defend that lineout right at the end on their line and get the turnover, and then in extra time they really took control.

“But they have shown that character before – that victory over Western Province at Newlands with 14 men, and again in the semi-final when the momentum had gone completely the Lions’ way after they scored two tries. Again this weekend they kept calm and went back to what works for them, they started to maul the Sharks,” Matfield told The Citizen on Monday.

It seems likely that there will be several more tightly-contested clashes between the Bulls and Sharks in the near future as well, what with MVM Holdings now investing millions in the Durban franchise and the Bulls also having healthy financial resources as well as a wealth of young talent.

“They are the two best sides at the moment, the Sharks were at the top of the Super Rugby competition before the Covid break and the Bulls did really well all through Super Rugby Unlocked and the Currie Cup. And the Bulls have a lot of great youngsters, they are the U19 and U21 champions as well so there is a lot of talent coming through.

“But you can’t take away from the influence of experienced guys like Duane Vermeulen, Trevor Nyakane and Morne Steyn. We don’t know how much longer Morne and Duane are going to play for, so the Bulls will need to replace them. The guys in like the middle stages of their careers will need to step up and become Springboks. Hopefully a few of them who did well in the Currie Cup will get that opportunity soon,” Matfield said.

A gutted Sean Everitt praised his Sharks team for a courageous effort in the Currie Cup final against the Bulls but said a piling up of mistakes in the final stages ultimately cost his side as they lost to a try right at the end of extra time.

The Sharks were leading 19-9 with 15 minutes of regular time remaining, but the Bulls scored a converted try and then a penalty in the 79^th minute to draw level. Replacement flank Arno Botha’s try with 72 seconds of extra time left then gave the Bulls a thrilling 26-19 win and the famous trophy for the first time since 2009.

“It was very disappointing, the players are gutted and I am gutted for them. They played their hearts out for 100 minutes, to be able to push the Bulls for that long, to keep them out for so long, made me really proud. But at the end of the day we let it slip. It wasn’t an isolated moment, just an accumulation of many mistakes. Our kicking accuracy wasn’t where we wanted it to be today.

“And one can debate kicking for touch instead of the poles, making it 22-9 maybe was the right way to go, but the players have a feeling on the field and last week in the semi-final we scored a try from that and no-one questioned that. Today we were a few inches short and then we had a baulk in the lineout when we were planning a trick play,” coach Everitt said after the heartbreaking defeat.

Flyhalf Curwin Bosch also missed five of his 10 kicks at goal, but a large number of those were from a long way out.

“Curwin has done it time and again for us this season, but today he was maybe not up to the standard we are used to. It was not his day, but all the kickers struggled, Morne Steyn and Chris Smith missed kicks too. Curwin is a great rugby player, missed kicks don’t make him a bad player. He has been outstanding for us this season and his game-management was generally excellent today,” Everitt said.

With a large financial injection now on the way from equity partners MVM Holdings, the future looks exciting for the Sharks and Everitt said the 2020/21 season had been a big success despite having no trophies to show for it.

“You can’t base the success of a season on one game and a helluva lot happened in 2020/21. We’ve also given a large number of players opportunities and they have grown and matured, the culture and leadership of the team has also grown, so the season was definitely a success.

“Lukhanyo Am has been a great captain, he has tremendous respect from his peers and the coaching staff do too. Through tough times, Lukhanyo has shown outstanding leadership and I would say we have had a lot of success this season,” Everitt said.

Coach Jake White praised his bench for doing the business and claiming another late win in the Currie Cup final against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, but this time the Bulls left it the latest of all their comebacks as they won with a try with just 72 seconds of extra time remaining.

Replacement loose forward Arno Botha, the senior member of the Bulls’ version of The Bomb Squad, scored both of their tries in the final, but it is the second one that will be remembered for many years to come as he reached over the line to break the 19-19 deadlock and seal a 26-19 win.

“It was incredible, with Covid, no crowd, the lightning stopping play in the first half; the team just had to adapt all the time and it will definitely be a final that will be remembered for a long time. I’m so proud of the team and I really enjoyed the way the bench came on and handled the pressure. Arno is one of our ‘captains’, he spoke well to the team and helped keep them calm.

“We’ve given guys like flyhalf Chris Smith and the reserve front row a lot of game time this season, where other teams have played their key guys for 80 minutes every game. I felt the time we have given the bench was a telling factor today, especially in injury time and extra time. They have grown as a group and they again showed their composure because this is not the only game they’ve come back to win,” White said after the gripping final.

The scrum was one of the few amenities where the Bulls had a clear advantage over the Sharks, but with referee Jaco Peyper, who controlled the feisty match extremely well, deciding not to make the final a penalty fest, the home side were only rewarded once with a penalty at the set-piece. It did come at a crucial time though as it set in motion the events that would lead to Botha’s first try, cutting the deficit to 16-19 in the 64^th minute.

“There were times we had go-forward at the scrum and in previous games we would have had the penalty advantage and been able to play. But today we never had that, we had to use the ball coming out. We had to adapt to that interpretation and I would have liked one or two scrum penalties. But we made life too easy for the Sharks at times, we gave them field position.

“The line-speed of the Sharks is also probably the best in the competition and maybe we tried to play a bit too much rugby in our half at times. Maybe we could also have chipped over the line a few times because we were caught behind the gain-line quite often. But the character we showed was amazing, it wasn’t our best game but it’s very good for the team to still win in that situation,” White said.