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Mid-table Sharks make plea: 'Cut us some slack'
By Warren Fortune
The Sharks are clearly a different team when all their top Springboks are available and everyone knows it.
However, head coach John Plumtree seems to be tired of answering questions about his team and their strategies when the top Boks are not available.
After starting this season’s United Rugby Championship campaign with one win on a three-match tour, the Sharks returned home and recorded victories over defending champions Glasgow Warriors (28-24) and Munster (41-24).
The Sharks had their full contingent of Boks available for those home matches and they made a significant impact in those victories.
“You are saying they Springboks, but they are Sharks,” Plumtree told reporters after Saturday’s victory over Munster.
“If they are not available, we can’t go and get another 10 Springboks to help us out when we are overseas, so we do our best to build a squad.
“The reality is that when we are at full strength, we are a very strong side and that is what you need to do well in this competition.
“Leinster have had their strongest team out for how many weeks and we haven’t, so I think everyone needs to cut us a little bit of slack.
“We now got a northern tour [for the Boks] and they will come back and then we’ve got a tough match against the Stormers at home, so the challenges just keep coming.
“We’ve also got Springbok resting [protocols] as well, so there is a lot to deal with.
“Yes, I want to win all the time, but the reality is that we are not going to be a full-strength Sharks side all the time.
“We can win without the Boks, but’s hard to win without all of them.”
One of those Boks that made a huge impact in the victory over Munster at Kings Park was scrumhalf Grant Williams.
The 28-year-old produced a complete performance on attack and defence. He also scored a try and he was involved in a few others.
“He is such a threat,” said the Sharks coach.
“When those little spaces open up and he is good enough to take them. I thought he wasn’t excellent today [Saturday].
“His defensive work as well, his covering tackling. Munster are so dangerous with the ball and we often had to scramble and Grant was one of the best in that department.”
Additional reporting by Annemie Bester
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