They’ve been through so much recently and it has been so long since they won in Cape Town that the Hollywoodbets Sharks players and coaching staff would have been forgiven if they’d gone out to pain the city red after their thoroughly deserved win over the high-riding DHL Stormers.
Given that the Stormers were top of the Vodacom URC log going into the game and the Sharks were 14th, and how rarely the Stormers lose on their home ground, the win was as good for the Sharks as a win in one of the difficult overseas venues.
And as it backed up some strong recent showings since the arrival of former Springbok wing JP Pietersen as interim coach, there is enough evidence now to suggest that a renaissance may be under way at the Durban franchise.
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However, Pietersen and his charges had no time to be smug or to soak in the magnitude of their achievement in beating the Stormers 30-19 in a game in front of more than 50 000 mostly Stormers supporters where nearly every plan they concocted worked.
For next week they go again, against the same opponents, and while the return game is in Durban, the humidity there at this time of year might just see the Stormers halt the romantic notions around their running rugby DNA and return to the game that worked for them overseas.
BACK TO BACK WINS WILL CONFIRM THE TURNAROUND
It may seem an odd thing to say, but the Stormers could quite easily be a lot stronger and less easy to beat at Hollywoodbets Kings Park than they were at the DHL Stadium, where according to their coach on the eve of the game they feel pressure to entertain.
There is a big carrot for the Sharks, as in two successive wins over the Stormers will definitely represent a turnaround.
More than that, backing up good performances in big games will also represent the crossing of a new frontier for the Sharks, who over a period of time have tended to follow up a heady triumph with a blip.
Last season was a case in point when they won against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus in a game where they were reduced to 12 men at one point and then went on in the next game to be thrashed by the Lions in Johannesburg.
Playing two South African derbies back to back in the space of seven days has never seemed a sensible idea from an attritional viewpoint and even as he spoke at the post-match press conference in Cape Town he was counting the cost of his team’s triumph.
“I need to check if I have players left,” said Pietersen. “I think I lost all three loose forwards, but that’s a South African derby. It’s physical, it’s hard, and we love it.”
Apart from the three loose-forwards he mentioned - Siya Kolisi (hamstring), Emmanuel Tshituka (ankle) and Matt Ramao (shoulder injured during the week) - he also has Bongi Mbonambi, the Bok hooker, struggling with a calf injury that prevented him from playing the Stormers.
ESTERHUIZEN AS CAPTAIN WAS ASTUTE JP CHOICE
But on the plus side of the balance sheet Nick Hatton, the 22-year-old No 8 who led the Sharks XV out of the woods in their Carling Currie Cup winning 2024 season, is gaining experience of big games. Eduan Swart did more than okay as Mbonambi’s replacement in Cape Town.
Suddenly the Sharks, who played under-strength teams in their last two Investec Champions Cup games, have depth. Or appear to have it.
Since taking over from John Plumtree, Pietersen has also made a very astute captaincy choice in backing Esterhuizen, as well as giving the reins to Hatton, who may well in time follow the old Natal tradition of having talismanic and bright No 8s leading them (Tommy Bedford, Wynand Claassen and Gary Teichmann), on the days when Esterhuizen isn’t there.
As it is a theory shared by this scribe, it was pleasing to hear Pietersen point to his Sharks roots as one of the key elements of the good leadership coming through in his team. Hatton is a product of Hilton College, while Esterhuizen played his age-group rugby for the Sharks.
“I think Andre’s been leading well. He challenges the group and you can see when he plays well, the team plays well and I just love the way he carries the team,” said the coach.
“He’s an old Shark boy, knows Durban inside out, lives and breathes Durban. His actions say a lot more than his words.”
LEADS BY EXAMPLE
Indeed, like apart from his Herculean efforts in getting the Sharks across the advantage line as well as popping up as an auxiliary flanker to dot down the last driving maul try that effectively killed off the Stormers’ challenge, he was also the man who miraculously got across to stop Leolin Zas’ pacy charge for a try in the first half that may well have changed the game.
Pietersen knows the juncture of the season his team has reached. The Sharks have lifted themselves from 14th to 11th on the log, and there is light at the end of the tunnel.
But after a poor start, and you can ask Liverpool football supporters about that, it just takes one defeat for all the questions and criticism to return. The Sharks do need to back up again on Saturday to properly confirm their upward trajectory.
“The turnaround will be short before next weekend, and we know the Stormers are going to come up to prove a point,” he said.
“The challenge in rugby is always if you can double up.”