Hollywoodbets Sharks head coach John Plumtree admitted their road ahead will be tricky following their seventh defeat of the United Rugby Championship on Saturday against the DHL Stormers in Cape Town.
John Plumtree felt that his men did enough in the coastal derby to end the year with some hope of a better 2024, describing their effort against the hosts as a massive step forward as they showed from the early minutes that they had come to play.
“I was disappointed to concede the scrum penalties and we will have to have a look at it. One or two at the end were 50/50, the last one they got they played into the corner and it came from an AR decision but looked to me that the loosehead had his elbow on the ground,” Plumtree said.
“It was a tough call because if the penalty had gone the other way we would have got into the corner and it would have been us building pressure with a few minutes to go. But that’s the frustration of being in that position, with only one point up or one point down. It was a close game, and I am proud of the boys’ effort."
“This is a tough place to come to get a win. There is a lot going on down here that is pretty positive and we had to show up today or otherwise, we were going to go away really disappointed. At least now we are disappointed at the result, not disappointed because we didn’t show up physically and weren’t in the fight. We definitely were in the fight. I am proud of the boys for that.”
Plumtree said that there is still a long way to go in restructuring their squad to be competitive against the top teams.
“What we have to do is have a squad that is really strong, so when the Boks come back, they make our team stronger and they don’t have to rescue our team."
“You can’t buy a rugby team. It has never been done before."
“You can’t buy success. You need to develop it and recruit and retain and do smart things and then you get the Etzebeths and the Vincent Kochs."
“Then you become stronger and stronger and that is what we have to do."
“You don’t go buy six or seven players and then all of a sudden you think you are going to be strong."
“It doesn’t happen like that.”