The John McFarland Column – Where have these Sharks been? 0
So the biggest question to come out of last weekend’s SuperRugby action was where has that Sharks team that put in two massive consecutive performances in New Zealand been hiding all season?!
The Sharks really put in a huge display in Napier and the Hurricanes were very lucky to win; the referee made some poor decisions at the back end of the game and that didn’t help the Sharks either. But Robert du Preez’s team were really in a position to win their second massive game in a row.
To see a New Zealand side struggle to cope with the pace and power of Jean-Luc du Preez and Andre Esterhuizen, especially the ease with which he went straight through from the lineout, was incredible. The Sharks would have won but for a late hit and a missed lineout that led to seven points down the other end, so that was obviously disappointing for them.
The Sharks had shown glimpses of this sort of form before, but probably not early enough in the season, so they are still 11 points off the pace in their group. Questions have to be asked as to why only now have they started to really play?
Maybe they’re more match-fit now, halfway through the competition, but the big thing is that their set-pieces are starting to function better. They’re getting good, clean lineout ball and are disrupting the opposition’s ball too, while Thomas du Toit is starting to settle at tighthead prop and that experiment is starting to not look so crazy. He’s getting his shoulders and the scrum has been stable enough to launch Esterhuizen, and the platform it provided for the Louis Schreuder try would have been really pleasing.
There are a lot of positives for the Sharks at the moment, but some of their first-phase defence and the way the wings defend needs to be better. Lukhanyo Am made one really poor decision at a lineout, he needed to be moving in instead of going out, and that provided the hole for a try.
But it’s going to be a big game this weekend in Durban because whoever loses between the Sharks and the Bulls will have a hard way back to get into a playoff spot. It’s going to be a massive derby.
But as I said, there are a lot of positives for the Sharks to take into the game – their willingness to offload in the wide channels, their ball-carriers going hard and an astute kicking game by Schreuder at scrumhalf. But they still need to tighten their defence – they’ve conceded 10 tries in two games.
As for their performances over the last night fortnight providing a blueprint for how to beat New Zealand, one thing is certain and that is that historically it takes a miracle to score more than five tries against the All Blacks. So you can’t be conceding five tries per game. It is pleasing that the Sharks are scoring so many points, but they need to concede less.
The Bulls had a great win against the Stormers two weeks ago and should be refreshed after their bye round. Handre Pollard had a really good game with the boot and exposed the positional play of the back three of the Stormers and he will be hoping to do the same this weekend. What was also impressive was the two tries they scored with their driving maul but the main thing for them will be to defend well in Durban because the Sharks are definitely scoring tries. They will have to contain the power running of Esterhuizen, Jean-Luc du Preez and Am. I’ve also been impressed by Robert du Preez’s ability to keep the scoreboard ticking over with his excellent goalkicking.
So the Bulls will have to be at their best defensively and very good in terms of discipline. The penalty count will need to be less than 10 so they will have to make very good decisions at the breakdown and strive for set-piece excellence.
The Lions, after their setbacks of the last few weeks, came out full of intent against the Stormers and Madosh Tambwe was outstanding.
For his first try, from the chip, Damian Willemse’s kick was from too deep. With his footwork, he needs to be flat and bringing runners into the game, and that chip needed to be behind the centres. It was just in the wrong spot and he doesn’t yet have the tactical boot and appreciation for space.
So that try had the Stormers under pressure from practically the first minute and then the ability of Elton Jantjies to pick up Tambwe on the kick into space and the wing himself showing he can also go into the hard channels led to his other two tries for an astonishing hat-trick in 13 minutes.
The Lions certainly seem to have a pool of wings now, with Ruan Combrinck back and Aphiwe Dyantyi close to returning, plus Courtnall Skosan on the sidelines, they have four really quality players. Four years ago, our wing stocks were really low in South Africa, but now we have those four plus Sbu Nkosi of the Sharks and Travis Ismaiel of the Bulls.
However, a lot of the defensive decisions of South African wingers this year have been poor. Yes, you have to put pressure on but you also have to make the tackles! Springbok defence coach Jacques Nienaber will have a different approach to guys like John Mitchell and Paul Feeney, who are using a rush defence at the Bulls and Stormers respectively. They want their wings to get in amongst the opposition, but that leaves you open to the bridge-pass and the kick-pass because they get disconnected from their centres. Jacques in the past wanted his wings behind the centres, to shadow the opposition and force them towards the touchline.
We are seeing so much of the kick-pass to the wide channels these days and wings have so much on their plate defensively, not to mention the big guys with serious gas and stepping ability they have to contend with as well.
The Springbok alignment camps are on the go and obviously the guys don’t train at those, but it’s a good chance for the national coaching staff to impart their philosophies. They will reveal the calling system and defensive lingo to be used, basically it’s a chance for them to give the players their messages for the year. It involves a heck of a lot of study because it’s all about how the Springboks will play this year.
There’s certainly some exciting talent available for Rassie Erasmus, and how his predecessor, Alistair Coetzee, would have loved to have seen the 30-cap overseas player rule relaxed. Why was this policy in place for two years and now it’s suddenly lifted?
It’s probably been changed for the likes of Faf de Klerk and Vincent Koch, they are the two players affected who really spring to mind.
Faf has been playing quite well for Sale, and has also been goalkicking, plus he’s proven at Test level. With Ross Cronje not invited to the alignment camps, I also rate Schreuder very highly at scrumhalf, he definitely has the skill-set to play at that level – he has a good kicking game, he’s a good organiser and he has the ability to finish, he’s no slouch with ball in hand.
Koch is being looked at because obviously South Africa’s tighthead stocks are a bit low. The Springboks have Wilco Louw and Ruan Dreyer, but you always need three guys in the crucial positions and there will always be five props in the Springbok squad.
England have some big guys up front and I’m sure Koch has had many training sessions against Mako Vunipola at Saracens, so he would be a good pick for the Springboks in terms of inside knowledge.
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.