Mike Greenaway
John Plumtree walked into the Kings Park post-match press conference in a bemused daze that would be akin to him having seen his family lined up for execution only for a messenger to ride in on a horse waving a last-minute reprieve from the governor.
The Sharks had been outplayed for most of the match but a combination of their stoic defence and the wastefulness of the Stormers meant the Durbanites were comfortably ahead at 21-8 with a few minutes to go.
Nobody could quite believe it because the Sharks’ pack had been surprisingly outplayed. Still, the visitors insisted on butchering opportunities while the Sharks were spectacular in how they seized a pig’s ear thrown away by the Stormers and turned it into a silk purse.
Andre Esterhuizen and Makazole Mapimpi were especially skilled in turning rearguard actions into profitable counter-attacks.
As good as the Sharks looked on the scoreboard as the game entered the final 10 minutes, the Stormers never remotely looked like they had thrown in the towel.
They were awarded a penalty try in the final minute when Aphelele Fassi was penalised for a deliberate knock-down close to his tryline. Fassi marched to the sin bin as the scoreboard cranked up seven automatic points for the Stormers.
The Capetonians grew an extra arm and a leg as they sensed a last-gasp win, and when determined phase play propelled Manie Libbok over for what seemed to be the winning try, the Stormers’ coaching box erupted in celebration.
Next door to them, their Sharks counterparts plunged opposite depths.
Plumtree explains: “The headset went off and it got thrown into the computer, so there was a bit of damage done there,” he said ruefully. “I’m normally pretty calm but I showed a little bit of emotion there. But then somebody in the box says, ‘Hang on, they are looking at something …
“I got all the coaches to take a breather because we needed to get our heart rates back down. We are all ageing well although in those last few minutes, I aged rapidly.”
Libbok’s try was chalked off because he had knocked the ball on earlier in the build-up. The Sharks broke out of jail to register their first win over the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship. They had lost the last six encounters.
Plumtree came up with a wonderful analogy of the knife-edge on which coaches exist.
“It can be very tough. Someone asked me why I like coaching and I said it is sort of like bungee jumping and you are not sure if you are going to have a rope or not and tonight (Saturday) the rope was attached.”
He added: “In any game, with a little bit of luck, you can come back from the dead and I guess that happened tonight in a fantastic derby.
“There were a lot of try-scoring opportunities squandered by both teams, so it was a dramatic game and supported by an awesome crowd, which we loved.”
The Sharks were on the back foot for most of the game because they were dominated in the set pieces and Plumtree agreed that much work has to be done behind the scenes. They simply were not the same tight five without Bongi Mbonmbi, Eben Etzebeth and Vincent Koch, who went off injured early.
“The management is doing a lot of good work to create the environment we want, whether we have our Boks or not,” the coach said.
“You’ve got to hand it to the boys for hanging in today. In another era, we would have lost. If the boys don’t buy into it, it doesn’t happen, so a lot of our leaders are doing some great work, and the team is connected.
“Win or lose, we try to have a lot of fun at work and make it a good place to be, and on top of that, we’ve got some good talent.
“If you get all of that right, you can have a little bit of success.”