The Sharks and Vodacom Bulls are making early moves as they gun to take the South African conference title away from the Stormers, writes DYLAN JACK.
On Monday, the Sharks confirmed their new coaching structure under head coach John Plumtree and director of rugby Neil Powell.
Gone is the overseas influence of Noel McNamara, Yannick Bru and Georgian scrum coach Akvsenti Giorgadze. Instead, Dave Williams has returned from England to take charge of the attack, while Joey Mongalo has been appointed as defence coach and Warren Whiteley and Phillip Lemmer will handle the forwards.
Last season there was a feeling of too many cooks at Kings Park as former head coach Sean Everitt headed up a staff of McNamara, Bru, Giorgadze, Whiteley and skills coach Phiwe Nomlomo.
Powell only arrived after finishing his responsibilities with the Blitzboks at the Sevens World Cup. This took its toll as Everitt was sent packing following a humiliating performance from the Sharks in a heavy loss to Cardiff.
Mongalo is being moved from Currie Cup head coach, where he has taken the Sharks to seven wins in a row, to defence coach, which is a positive. The former Lions junior coach filled the same role under Jake White at the Vodacom Bulls and his defensive structures were a big part of the team that won back-to-back Currie Cup titles.
Simply put, a more focused coaching staff working under the no-nonsense Plumtree is a big step towards putting the Sharks on the right track.
There is also a sense that over the past couple of windows, the Sharks have over-invested in Springboks, which has raised the ceiling of talent in the squad, but not necessarily the floor.
Eben Etzebeth (three Vodacom URC games), Siya Kolisi (six) and Bongi Mbonambi (seven) without doubt added value when they played, but due to injuries and international commitments were so rarely available apart from the Champions Cup.
However, the Sharks are also getting that right. Siya Masuku, Diego Appollis, George Cronje, Ig Prinsloo and Coenie Oosthuizen will undoubtedly raise the floor of talent in the squad and provide Plumtree with a reliable spine of players who will be available for most of the season.
Further north, it appears that things are changing for the better at Loftus Versfeld. In a different way to the Sharks, the Vodacom Bulls also got their recruitment badly wrong and failed to improve on the side that progressed to the inaugural final.
Phumzile Maqondwana, Chris Smit, Mihlali Mosi and Wandisile Simelane all arrived to much fanfare, but were rarely utilised as starters, especially towards the back end of the campaign. Meanwhile, the Sbu Nkosi story has become a saga of itself and that relationship has deteriorated to the point that Jake White has openly encouraged the Springbok wing to seek a move overseas.
Too many of those were seen as long-term projects and there wasn’t enough quality injected into a lineup that lost Madosh Tambwe, Arno Botha, Walt Steenkamp and Marcell Coetzee.
However, Wilco Louw and Jannes Kirsten will next season provide the Bulls with two reliable and experienced warhorses in the pack, while the exciting Sebastian de Klerk will make his highly-anticipated move after two excellent seasons with the Pumas.
All signs are that the Bulls coaching staff will change in a big way. Nollis Marais and Pine Pienaar, who have both been at Loftus Versfeld for a number of years now, are reportedly on the outs and could be joined by Russell Winter, who is the subject of interest from Japanese clubs.
It was telling that in the immediate aftermath of the quarter-final loss to the Stormers, White indicated his coaching staff as an area that needed work if they are to challenge their rivals.
So, while the Stormers claimed a second consecutive SA Shield by a comfortable 15 points in the recently-concluded campaign, they will have to steel themselves for a harsher challenge next season as the Sharks and Bulls start correcting after a tumultuous time.
Don’t expect the conference to be decided by double digits next season.
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images