Sharks have taken honest look in the mirror, says coach John Plumtree ahead of Scarlets

Sharks coach John Plumtree says the change room at Kings Park was “not a nice place to be” after his star-studded team was outplayed by Ulster last week.

“Everyone was hurting and feeling bad,” Plumtree said on Thursday after announcing a team to play the Scarlets on Saturday that contains nearly all of the players who misfired last week.

“The change room was not a nice place to be. We know how important it is in this competition to win home games, and we want to play our best rugby in front of our fans. When that doesn’t happen, it is terribly frustrating for everyone,” the coach said.

“On the Sunday, it feels the same, but you go to work and plan for the week. Monday arrived and that was a tough review around parts of the game that we didn’t control which we should have.”

Plumtree says there has been a “shake-up” in terms of the team’s intent and physicality.

“The players have done some soul-searching, as have the coaches and management. We looked in the mirror and asked the question around where we could be better, and what that influences in our preparation for the Scarlets. We have to go out and perform not just for the fans but for ourselves.

“The players are a proud bunch, although for some people it sometimes might not look like it, but they are. They are human, and sometimes we get things wrong on the park.”

Plumtree has been under fire from fans and admits nobody has done more introspection than himself.

“I’ve had a look at myself and the way potentially I could’ve managed our preparation better — what I could’ve done more, what I could’ve done less — and taken that on board,” he said.

“I can assure you that everyone is working as hard as possible, and sometimes when you do that, you still don’t get what you want.

“It’s important that we don’t just chuck all our processes out. It’s important that we all go to work and ask for more effort, ask for more fight, and then prepare as well as we can.

“There are some things that I can control and those are things that I look to make sure I nail personally in my job,” he continued. “But there are also some things I can’t control. I needed to look at myself, and that’s what I’ve done.”

Plumtree explained his decision to give the captaincy this week to Eben Etzebeth.

“Eben was always going to be our captain this season,” Plumtree explained. “We just thought that with the week he had last week — he only trained once and they had the baby on the Thursday, then he played on the Saturday — his preparation was far from ideal and we didn’t want to add the extra burden of the captaincy on top of that.

“Siya Kolisi had a bit going on in his personal life, so it was better that Vincent Tshituka, who was captain on the tour and is respected by the team, carried on with the job.

“But those three guys will captain the team at some point as we negotiate Springbok duty and player resting.”

Sharks team to play Scarlets

15 Jordan Hendrikse, 14 Ethan Hooker, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Manu Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka (capt), 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.

Bench: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko 19 JJ Scheepers, 20 Phepsi Buthelezi, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Jean Smith, 23 Jurenzo Julius.