Christo Buchner

Johannesburg - How much longer will the Sharks rugby team continue with John Smit?

On current form the Springbok captain certainly does not deserve his place in the Sharks team. In fact, he should not even be on the substitutes bench.

The front-row dilemma that the Sharks have - they feel compelled to pick Smit - might well trip them up in the Vodacom Super Rugby competition.

Sharks coach John Plumtree admits that the scrumming performance against the Crusaders was the worst in a long time.

The New Zealand team shoved the Sharks backwards at Twickenham in London as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

“We did not scrum well. We were weak in that area of the game,” said Plumtree.

While Plumtree will not openly criticise his captain, it did come through that Beast Mtawarira’s appearance in the second half brought about a major improvement.

“There were fewer scrums after Beast went on, but he had one of his best games in a long time. It was encouraging,” said Plumtree.
 
Mtawarira and the Du Plessis brothers, Bismarck and Jannie, are undoubtedly the Sharks’ best front row, while Eugene van Staden should be the impact prop on the substitutes bench.

Plumtree expressed his satisfaction with his pack’s driving play in spite of their scrumming problems and failure to take some kick-offs.

“Hopefully we will not allow the Stormers’ backs to break through our first line of defence as easily as the Crusaders did,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Sharks will make a call on Thursday whether Jacques-Louis Potgieter (calf injury) will be able to play against the Stormers on Saturday.