Mike Greenaway
Two weeks before their Challenge Cup final against Gloucester, the Sharks have a serious midfield crisis in their backline.
Bok star Lukhanyo Am suffered a shoulder joint injury in the weekend’s loss to Benetton, and rising star Ethan Hooker is touch-and-go for the final because of an ankle injury.
Francois Venter has a similar injury and the man who replaced him, Murray Koster, is likely to be suspended. Koster was red-carded for an unfortunate charge at a ruck that resulted in a head clash with Benetton's outside centre Tommaso Menoncello.
That was in the 74th minute and a few minutes later Benetton exploited the gap in the defence out wide to score the match-winning try.
Koster had played a good game until that point.
"Murray played well. We are seeing more of these red cards where the poachers put themselves into vulnerable positions, but Murray was a little too late to get to the ruck," Plumtree said.
"He was put in a vulnerable position where he had to clean a person at a very low position and that can happen.
"He's pretty down on it, but these things can happen in rugby and that's how these things go. It did change a lot, especially with five or six minutes to go.
"It had quite a big bearing on the result.”
The Sharks host Cardiff this week in a United Rugby Championship match and we can be sure that Plumtree will take no risks with his key players.
In the first half, three World Cup winners went off with injuries – Eben Etzebeth, Vincent Koch and Am.
When Plumtree saw those three go down, he made the half-time decision to keep back three other key Boks – Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Grant Williams – as he cast a worried eye to the big final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Plumtree put on a brave face at the post-match press conference.
“I was hoping for them to get to half-time so that they had a good 40 minutes before the final,” Plumtree said.
“That was the big frustration. Obviously, I was hoping there would be no injuries.”
Plumtree said Etzebeth had gone off for a head injury assessment and failed the test. That suggests there could be a concussion and that could mean a mandatory three-week stand-down period.
“What he is complaining about now is his neck,” Plumtree said. “He is heading to the physio for treatment, but I don’t think he will be too bad.”
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Talk about impact from the bench! Jacob Umaga converts his try for a @benettonrugby win💥#BKTURC #URC | #SHAvBEN pic.twitter.com/BqgryreqHY
Koch rolled his ankle in a scrum, but did not seem to be uncomfortable after the game.
“The physio wasn’t too concerned about it,” the coach said of Koch. “I’m hoping that it won’t be too serious.”
Am is suffering from an injury to the sternoclavicular (SC) joint and was in a sling after the game.
“We have the luxury that we don’t have to play these guys next week, which gives them another week of recovery,” Plumtree added.
The Sharks appeared to have had the match comfortably under control, but as injuries began to mount, they lost shape and discipline. A torrent of penalties helped Benetton come back from 15-24 down to score 10 unanswered points in the last 10 minutes.