A funny thing happened in the press box at the Absa stadium in Durban about two weeks ago. The Sharks had just gone to the top of the Super 14 log by beating the Highlanders and coach Dick Muir sauntered in to take up his familiar position at the centre of a large, oval table.
Muir can cope rather well with the media, but as he was about to open the press conference he noticed a weather-beaten old man wearing a golf cap and leaning nonchalantly against the wall to his left. The confidence seemed to ebb away and the mighty Muir became just another schoolboy caught stealing jam.
For this was no ordinary interloper. This was Ian McIntosh, coach of the Sharks during their golden decade of the 1990s and, of course, Muir’s mentor. It would have been very easy for Muir to take umbrage. After all, we live in a country where each successive generation seems to carry ever-lower opinions of the one before.
To put that thought into perspective, in New Zealand several ex-All Black coaches are in the habit of meeting on a Sunday to analyse the play of the five Super 14
franchises. The likes of John Hart and Laurie Mains pool their ideas and present a document that is delivered each Monday to the five coaches of those franchises.
Once delivered there is no onus on the coach to use the ideas contained within. It is just there if he needs it.
Can you imagine the outcry if Rudolf Straeuli, Nick Mallett, Andre Markgraaff, Mac and the other half-dozen post-isolation Springbok coaches were to do something similar? Stepping on the current coach’s toes, offering outdated ideas, fomenting rampant provincialism. It could not happen here.
But there are times when even a successful coach whose team is at the top of the log needs a shoulder to lean on and a sounding post for ideas.
When the press conference broke up, Mac and Dick went to work, moving Energade bottles around on the table top to simulate match situations, and chewing the fat in a manner that the game as a whole seems to have forgotten.
One point of debate was the driving maul. The Sharks do it rather well, particularly from line-outs. But, argued Mac, you’re not scoring from it.
The truth hurts. As good a tactic as the driving maul is for sucking in opposition defenders and gaining ground, there is no doubt that it fails to provide the Holy Grail of the modern game: the quick ball.
Another point of discussion was the positioning of the flyhalf. In this country, we seem to have two types. The Derick Hougaard type stands about 15m behind his scrumhalf and kicks to the corners. The Andre Pretorius type stands flat and either passes or runs at the opposition.
Young Francois Steyn, the gifted young Shark who can apparently play anywhere, was the flyhalf against the Highlanders. He did not have a particularly fine game and a good 10 minutes of the Mac and Dick show were devoted to working out where he could and should stand.
All of which is irrelevant for the visit of the Crusaders this week, because Steyn is injured and Butch James is at flyhalf.
In the side for the first time this season is Odwa Ndungane, whose twin, Akona, won several Springbok caps last season. It is fitting that Odwa should return against the defending champions, for last year’s encounter between the two marked the wing’s crossing of the Rubicon.
The Crusaders won 22-20 in Timaru, but needed a Dan Carter drop goal to clinch matters after trailing for most of the match. Ndungane said: ”It was my first game of the season and I scored my first try for the Sharks. I was proud of the way I played, particularly in that my direct opponent was Caleb Ralph, who has such a great record in Super Rugby.”
The Sharks lost their next two matches on the road as well, but finished with a convincing win against the Highlanders.
It was, however, the defeat by the Crusaders that marked the Sharks out as a team
with potential.
This week’s fixture in Durban may tell us much about the destiny of the Super 14
trophy in 2007. The Crusaders failed to score a try for the first time in six years when they lost to the Lions a fortnight ago, but they scored six in their demolition of the Cheetahs last week.
Chances are that, if Muir’s men genuinely believe themselves to be championship contenders, they are going to have to beat the Crusaders at some stage. In fact, they will probably have to do it more than once.
So now is the time for the Sharks to strut their stuff. They have had a week off to rest the niggling injuries and they field their strongest tight five for the first time this season, thanks to the return of Johan Ackermann at lock.
It is easy to make excuses when you lose to a team as good as the Crusaders, but Muir knows he has to look Mac in the eye after the game — and that should ensure a rousing display.