Sharks can't blow hot and cold against Leinster warns Plumtree

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a famous book about contradictory behavior. Robert Louis Stevenson could have been describing the Sharks rugby team, had they existed when writing in 1886.

John Plumtree said as much after his team had played in fits and starts before sneaking home 35-34 against Zebre, the Italian side that threatens to become the Sharks’ unlikely nemesis. It seemed that way 10 minutes before time when Zebre led and Sharks supporters were casting their minds back to Zebre’s shock defeat of the Sharks last year, their first win since 2022.

“We can’t be this Jekyll and Hyde team anymore,” Plumtree said.

“This hot-and-cold performance won’t cut it against Leinster this week. They will punish us and not let us off the hook. As good as Zebre were, they gave us some soft moments and we won’t get that from Leinster.

“We will have to be better in every aspect of the game,” Plumtree said, before adding with a wry smile, “Leinster won’t be scared of us after this game.”

The Sharks were impressive in some areas but poor in others. That is pretty much a reflection of their season and it confirms that they are a team that is some way off maturing.

And that is fair because it is 18 months since Plumtree returned to Durban from New Zealand to begin his second stint at the Sharks, and it takes longer to build a team and then to hit your straps, especially considering Plumtree started at ground zero.

A notable area where the Sharks have gone off the boil is the aerial contest. They were renowned for the accuracy of their contestable kicking and their success rate in getting the ball back, but they were nowhere with their kicking game and Plumtree agreed.

“Our kicking wasn’t good and our inability to win our contestable kicks hurt us,” he said, before adding a telling comment: “Some of our backline combinations did not click.”

He might have been talking about the half-backs where Jordan Hendrikse did not have his best game in terms of game management or the midfield pairing of Ethan Hooker and Jurenzo Julius.

Hooker and Julius had good individual performances but as a pair, they did not create much. They are very young and play better when they can work off experienced men such as Lukhanyo Am, Francois Venter, and Andre Esterhuizen.

The latter made his comeback from a knee injury off the bench and made a telling difference. When he came on at 12, Hooker moved to the wing where he scored the match-winning try thanks to a long, sweeping pass from Esterhuizen.

Esterhuizen will start against Leinster and his calmness will be significant. Julius will enjoy running off the big fellow. Plumtree added that Aphelele Fassi is not far from playing again.

“Fassi will train with us this week but won’t be involved against Leinster. He could play the next week in France (the Sharks play Lyon in a Challenge Cup game) if we choose to send him there. It is not the nicest comeback game after months off, so we will see what happens.”