Sharks Chief Executive Eduard Coetzee tells an interesting tale of the day he fetched the Sharks’ new scrum coach from King Shaka airport.
It was the second day of the July looting, KZN was ablaze and smoke was billowing into the east coast sky as he nervously drove Akvsenti Giorgadze to Hollywoodbets Kings Park. Coetzee says he was struggling for words as he tried to welcome the coach on what was possibly the darkest day in the history of the province.
“But he not flinch,” Coetzee says. “He said with a smile: ‘I am from Georgia. This is nothing.’”
Yes, they don’t grow shrinking violets in the former Russian state. Joseph Stalin, a tyrant even worse than Hitler, was a Georgian after all.
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And the manner in which the Sharks’ set scrum has been transformed over the last few months is evidence that Giorgadze does not muck about.
It wasn’t that long ago that Coetzee — once a proud scrummager himself for the Sharks and Biarritz — could not bear to watch his team engage at scrum time for fear of calamity.
But the Sharks are now on the right side of the scrum penalties ledger and it was eyebrow-raising to see the white flag flying above the Stormer scrum at the weekend. They were missing Frans Malherbe but even so, Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Thomas du Toit had a ball.
Speaking of the latter, he was asked last week what had changed for him given that he is in the best form of his life.
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The Tank grinned and said: “I’ve got older and wiser, that’s what has happened.” He is still just 26 but given that he arrived at the Shark Tank straight out of Paarl Boys High, he has completed a lengthy apprenticeship in the engine room.
He said: “The only way to wisen up is to learn the hard way. When you are a young player you focus too much on things that are unimportant. Now I know exactly where my energy must be focussed.”
Incidentally, he is maturing off the field too. Quite the budding businessman, he is the proud owner of a busy coffee shop at Kings Park. It is called the Coffee Tank. What else?!
Talking of the 22-22 draw with the Stormers, that game is a microcosm of where the Sharks are in their vigorous rebuilding under Coetzee and the Sharks’ enthusiastic American partners. There was a headline which said it neatly: “Sharks flex then flop”.
And as coach Sean Everitt said: “For 71 minutes we did so much right... then we beat ourselves.”
In that 71 minutes, we saw a Sharks pack rampant; we saw the wonders that their gifted backline can perform with Lukhanyo Am, Aphelele Fassi and Makazole Mapimpi conjuring up two delightful tries.
But there were also missed kicks at goal along the way; there were other tries left on a plate when the Stormers were on the point of capitulating. And then came a despairing last ten minutes of unfortunate game management and disciplinary indiscretions...
The Sharks have made the mission statement that they want to rule Europe by winning the Heineken Cup, and sooner rather than later.
They have done well to get so much good in place, but they have to develop a killer instinct. They are also not going to win trophies with iffy goal-kicking.
I don’t want to put too much pressure on young Boeta Chamberlain, who cannot have a better kicking coach than Patrick Lambie, but hopefully, his kicking matures in the right direction soon.
The question of ace goal-kicking raises a question that is on so many lips. Where in the world is Curwin Bosch?
Literally, he is still at the Shark Tank. Where he is mentally is more complex. It seems he lost confidence after a sequence of poor performances last year and after being unsuccessfully moved to fullback, he then dropped out of the match 23 altogether.
Bosch debuted for the Sharks in the Currie Cup of 2016 and is still just 24. We know he is outrageously talented, so he has to dig deep into his mental resolve and find a way to resuscitate his career. The Currie Cup is now running concurrently with the URC and what better place for Bosch to rediscover his form than in the competition where it all started for him.
@MikeGreenaway67