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John Plumtree believes the likes of Eben Etzebeth are itching to play for the Sharks before the Springboks’ end-of-year tour, but the challenge is how the Durban outfit uses them, reports DEVIN HERMANUS.
Speaking during a teleconference from Italy on Thursday, Plumtree is focused on ending the Sharks’ European tour on a high as the Durbanites gear up to face Italian club Benetton in round 4 of the 2024-25 Vodacom URC on Saturday.
With a chance to secure back-to-back wins on the road, the head coach addressed the potential re-integration of the Sharks’ Bok stars for their upcoming home games against the Glasgow Warriors and Munster, current and former URC champions respectively.
Etzebeth became the most-capped Bok of all time in South Africa’s Rugby Championship-title win against Argentina almost three weeks’ ago. He and a host of fellow world champions have been on a break, but according to Plumtree, are eager to get back into action.
“I think they need to play before they go on tour because they’ve had a couple of weeks off now,” he told reporters. “But that’s not the most important part of it for me – the important part of it for me is they want to play.”
Plumtree has already spoken with Etzebeth and is encouraged by the 128-Test lock’s readiness to return. “I’ve already had a chat with Eben and he’s dying to get back into it. I asked him if he was off cloud 100 and he ensured he was and ready to go back to work.”
He will assess the full group of returning Boks after the Benetton game, with decisions influenced by potential injuries and fatigue among the current squad.
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“We’re confident those boys will be wanting to get back out there in the Sharks jersey, but the challenge is how we’re going to integrate them because there’s quite a few [of them],” the Sharks boss said. “I’ll make that decision after this game.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s match, Plumtree highlighted the areas where the Sharks need to improve following their victory over the Dragons last week. “I’m happy with the way we finished the game, but we shouldn’t have been in that situation,” he said.
“When we’re playing good rugby we look pretty comfortable and, for me, the better team. So stuff we can control we’ve got to be better at, that’s been our big focus this week.”
Benetton, considered Italy’s strongest club, will pose a significant challenge. Plumtree noted that the team’s physicality and the expected tough conditions at Stadio Monigo, due to recent rain, will require a disciplined and resilient performance.
“A massive physical challenge because we know they’re going to come hard at us, and we’ve got to play for long periods. The field’s also going to be sticky, we’ve had a lot of rain here in Italy.”
Despite the challenges of a three-week tour, Plumtree praised the Sharks’ impressive run of form, which includes victories over the Vodacom Bulls and the Lions in the 2024 Currie Cup playoffs. He downplayed any specific focus on achieving consecutive wins on the road overseas but emphasised the importance of finishing this tough run of away matches on a positive note.
“This team has been on the road for a long time… We’ve played six matches and won five of them. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved… but getting a win here would really finish off a great little block of games that we always knew would be challenging,” he concluded.
Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images