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Sharks claim Europe 'not a level playing field' despite Challenge Cup win
Sharks head coach John Plumtree said a lot still needs to be done to ensure that South African teams do not face logistical issues in future European tournaments.
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Plumtree’s side stormed to a 36-22 victory over Gloucester in Friday’s Challenge Cup Final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
That victory provided a silver lining to a challenging season, which has seen the team from Durban fall out of the United Rugby Championship play-off race quite early with just four wins from 17 matches ahead of next weekend’s final round.
While his team was in a celebratory mood after Friday’s Challenge Cup success, Plumtree sent a reminder to the organisers of the European competitions about helping the SA teams become more competitive.
“This is not an easy competition for the South African teams,” said Plumtree.
“There is a lot of travelling.
“We are in it, and we are competing well, but a few things need to be ironed out in terms of levelling it up a little bit.
“This is our fourth trip up here [to the Northern Hemisphere] this year and I think we have been away from home for about three months, so that is not a level playing field.
Challenge Cup
Pool 1
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Sharks
4
3
1
0
17
2
Pau
4
3
1
0
12
3
Cheetahs
4
2
2
0
11
4
Zebre
4
2
2
0
10
5
Dragons RFC
4
1
3
0
7
6
Oyonnax
4
1
3
0
6
Pool 2
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Benetton
4
3
1
0
15
2
Montpellier
4
3
1
0
14
3
Ospreys
4
3
1
0
14
4
Lions
4
2
2
0
10
5
Newcastle
4
1
3
0
5
6
Perpignan
4
0
4
0
0
Pool 3
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Gloucester
4
4
0
0
17
2
Clermont
4
3
1
0
15
3
Edinburgh
4
2
2
0
11
4
Castres
4
2
2
0
10
5
Black Lion
4
1
3
0
5
6
Scarlets
4
0
4
0
0
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“They need to look at how they can make this competition better.
“For me, it’s better than Super Rugby and I’ve been involved in that for a long time.
“However, there is a lot of logistical stuff that needs to be sorted out. Hopefully, it will be done in the next year or two.”
Meanwhile, delving into the detail of their game plan in that victory over Gloucester, Plumtree added: “We wanted to apply a lot of pressure up-front because we knew it would probably be their strength, so by taking that away, we knew we would have a good chance.
“I thought the scrum was outstanding, and the front row’s drive was very good, and they earned the rewards for it. So was the pressure game from our kicking game.
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“A lot of it was based around scoreboard pressure, which we had to keep building on, and credit to the guys for sticking to the plan.”
“This is our fourth trip up here [to the Northern Hemisphere] this year and I think we have been away from home for about three months, so that is not a level playing field.”
Don’t sign up to a European competition then complain you have to go to Europe a lot
Wow I never knew that rugby is becoming football….. seriously a penalty try and yellow card for a try saving tackle. Geez this is beginning to get stupid now.
The SA teams should be blaming SARU in the main, for agreeing a deal with Qatar Airways who have to be one of the worst airlines serving the SA rugby teams, well at least in Cape Town! When I flew to London a few weeks ago from Joburg the Lyon team who'd been thrashed the day before by the Bulls were all ensconced in BA business class. So maybe the rich shit who owns the Sharks now, along with Plumtree, should dish out a bit of his dosh rather than the two of them whinging so much and put the guys in BA business too?
Very interesting that he doesn’t consider URC the mirror of Super Rugby but the rather the EPRC. He doesn’t think URC has the best european teams, like the recently had New Zealand teams in SR, to pit themselves against?
Or is he just meaning that despite all the complaints the travel time is still less than SR?
It would be a very interesting claim if he was given they’re 13th in the URC with no hope of even getting to 12th, all their internationals and they still lost to Zebre ….
SA is (geographically) isolated and while winning hardly plays the most attractive brand of rugby. SA is in the EU in terms of time zone so broadcasting works and the rest should follow. However, one suspects - because EU teams have many more alternatives - SA is going to have to / will be forced to compromise on some fronts inc the logistical challenges which will mean for example - as it did with Super Rugby - that their teams will spend more time accumulating air miles (that they wont have the time to use). Short of jets that fly on the edge of the atmosphere it would seem that there is very little the SA teams can do other than more agreeable flight paths i.e. not via Doha.
Well the obvious one was the lack of a gap between group play and knockout. They were back to back where every other stage there is a fortnight gap.
Aside from that one easily solvable thing though, yes, will be hard to align everything perfectly just for the benefit of SA.
The central irony being that the current Boks national team aren't compliant with current anti-doping laws! Love it. Sharks get angry. Grrrrrr
Non sequiturs your speciality?
It would appear that the URC pushed hard to get the SA teams participating to the Champions Cup. And obviously the SA teams would like to be treated on an equal foot. But things are far more complex and cannot be treated on the sole commercial aspects. The health of the players must be taken into account. The Top 14 season is already far longer than the URC and longer than the Premiership. Therefore Top 14 teams are not keen at all to travel to SA. La Rochelle playing in CT and just after in Dublin before another Top 14 game is one example.
Therefore not taking the players health into account is disastrous and is going to lead to a lot of frustration from SA teams as well as Top 14/Premiership teams. URC teams have a light schedule and were keen to play SA teams. They should stick to that agenda and not try to force the other two leagues to agree on another agenda.
I wonder if we will see larger squads, essentially A and B teams. I know the Andy Goode types will wail about “disrespecting the competion” but something must give. The coaches will have to prioritise certain games in certian competitions.
The is also the madated rest times for players. This might be a boom time for players if the world culb competition comes into play.
Well ofc they did, URC would be heavily favouring SA teams if they got rest weeks instead of having to play in europe!
For sure, the problem is everyones. Though all 4 SA teams and that same difficulty is shared amongst the 30 other european teams, so heavily disadvantaging one country.
Hard to see where these comps shave 4 weeks off their calendar just so they can have bye weeks following the major ends of group strange, qualfication, then finals.
he’s right - home semis for SA teams are vital in future years.
There’s a little more to it than just home semi’s for SA. Firstly, the commercial position means the SA union have to earn their place at the table but they weren’t able to pay their way to being an equal partner upon entry. Secondly, when this is evened up, the competition structure has to be revised to ensure that no team, either travelling from or to SA, is disadvantaged beyond simply having a tie to play away from home. It’s not clear this will be possible without a serious rethink on rules for seeding, rounds played and the timing of each round.