LONG READ 'Springbok Galacticos can't go it alone for trophy-hunting Sharks'

It’s been a rough start to life in the Champions Cup for the South Africans. This past weekend was the nadir. Three heavy defeats, an empty stadium and a couple of weakened teams on the road left a bad taste in the mouth. The talk since has been grim, delving deeper into discussions around travel fatigue, carbon costs and whether or not they should just be kicked out of the competition entirely.

But, let’s remember, we are just two games into the new campaign. And while the winless Stormers and Bulls will need something special from here, the Sharks, in winning their home game against Exeter Chiefs, are in control of their own destiny. They’re hosting Toulouse and then travelling to Bordeaux – a fortnight from rugby’s underworld – but big players with big names win big matches. The Sharks have quite a few. 

In the front row there’s RugbyPass’s top-rated prop in the world and two double World Cup champions. The pack is bolstered by the most-capped Springbok of all time and the nation’s most successful captain. Three South African half-backs feed the English Premiership’s most valued player in 2022, the same year the other centre was nominated for World Rugby’s player of the year award. The man with the most tries scored per game for South Africa prowls on the wing.

Tiger Dominance 👊@LeicesterTigers put 56 points on the Hollywoodbets Sharks in front of a packed out home crowd 🔥

Catch up on #InvestecChampionsCup highlights ⬇️

— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 14, 2024

Other teams have more Test players. Some even have a better collection of individuals. But none have the stacked CVs littered across the Sharks which is why, if they can get beyond the pool stage of the Champions Cup and line up a string of knockout games, they have more than a chance of winning the whole thing.

“It’s mad,” says Jordan Hendrikse, a new face in the dressing room after signing from the Lions in July. “Everywhere you look in the dressing room there are some of the best players who have ever played for South Africa. That lifts your game. You want to be a part of it. You have to respect what they have achieved.”

But they can’t go it alone. And though there have been examples of fringe players leading the charge – such as Siya Masuku’s brilliance in the latter stages of their victorious Challenge Cup run, as well as Hendrikse draining a 60-metre penalty in the rain to win the Currie Cup – these have been few and far between. 

Compounding matters is the congested calendar which now has South Africans playing in both hemispheres throughout the year. After a heavily rotated side was thrashed 56-17 by Leicester Tigers, coach John Plumtree argued it is unrealistic to expect his Springboks to play every game. “We’ve got to look after these athletes,” he said. “They are not robots.”

It’s not just for the star players to carry us. The rest of us need to raise our game.

Therefore the success of the operation depends on less heralded names steering the ship. Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche, Aphelele Fassi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi, Bongi Mbonambi, Andre Esterhuizen, Grant Williams and Vincent Koch were all spared the trip to Leicester. Some were injured. Others were simply rested. Whatever the reason for their absence, it was clear they were sorely missed.

“We can’t deny we’ve not been reaching the standards we’ve set and the senior guys in the group have set,” says Phepsi Buthelezi, who captained the side at Welford Road after earning his first Springboks cap this year. “It’s not just for the star players to carry us. The rest of us need to raise our game. Being in a dressing room like that has to improve you as a player.”

Last season’s URC was a disaster. The Sharks lost their first five games on the bounce and would only win four of the 13 that followed. Former captain John Smit quipped, despite the Sharks having a “magnificent looking team”, they were akin to a “Ferrari that has no gearbox”.

This prompted an immediate response from the franchise’s owner, Marco Masotti, who posted on X: “I am grateful for the comparison to a Ferrari. A Ferrari is always a Ferrari. A gearbox will eventually be fixed. Thankfully we are not an old Toyota Corolla from the past.” After some criticism, Masotti dismissed the spat with Smit as “banter” and said he was “grateful” for any input from the former Boks skipper.

“We try not to focus on the outside noise, but we recognise the standards and expectations are high,” Buthelezi, says. “But I promise you, no one wants us to achieve what we’re capable of more than we do.

“We know that the fans, the stakeholders, the owners and everyone involved with the club wants us to do well. They expect us to do well. And they’re right to do so. We have this team of superstars. If we’re not at least competing for every trophy then we’re letting a lot of people down, ourselves most of all.”

We have this mission to create one of the biggest rugby brands globally. We’ll only do that with trophies, major trophies.

Hendrikse is adamant these rising tides will lift all boats soon enough. “We’re building,” he says. “We spoke quite a lot in the preseason about what went wrong last season and it felt like there was a bit of a disconnect within the group. That there was a big gap and not a strong enough middle ground. That was something we needed to address.”

This has developed organically, as Buthelezi explains: “Looking at it from the outside it might seem like [the Test veterans] are intimidating, but they’re so relatable. I don’t know how these guys get it right. It must be something coach Rassie [Erasmus] is doing because they are all so good at coming down to the level of everyone in the group. No one thinks they’re too big for the Sharks, no one behaves like their teammates aren’t good enough. We go to each other’s houses for braais. Eben, Siya, they have all the guys around often. We genuinely feel like we’re all equal.”

This cultural equity is beginning to seep into the team’s tactics. Hendrikse explains the Sharks, with or without their Springboks, are working on an approach that more resembles a Test side.

“It helps as a fly-half when you’ve got Test quality centres in Andre [Esterhuizen] and Lukhanyo [Am], and Test quality forwards in front of you, if you play a game that is familiar to you,” he says.

“When I change from system to system [from the Springboks to the Sharks], it’s helpful when the systems are more closely aligned. It’s also helpful when the players around you are so familiar. We see the best club teams in the world have combinations that also play together for their countries.

“But it’s not that I’m trying to be squeaky clean and conservative. Because then you play within yourself and you don’t try to break games open, but maybe we’ve been guilty of trying to play too fast and free when we’d be better playing a game that is closer to what we do at the Boks. You still have to enjoy yourself on the pitch, but our goal is winning. Winning has to come first.”

Buthelezi echoes this sentiment. “We have this mission to create one of the biggest rugby brands globally. We’ll only do that with trophies, major trophies. We have set ourselves the target of winning both the URC and the Champions Cup this season.”

Sixth in the URC after two losses, and needing at least one win from their final two pool games in the toughest club competition in the world, the Sharks are swimming in dangerous waters. Galacticos are held to higher standards than the rest. Being competitive is not enough. With wealthy American backers and a roster that could conceivably beat most Test teams, anything other than triumphs and glories will not be tolerated for much longer.