Durban, 30th November 2018: Not only will the Cell C Sharks enjoy the benefits of having a settled squad in 2019, as well as the momentum of Currie Cup success in 2018, but will also take continuity as far as our team management staff goes into Vodacom Super Rugby next year.
The three-year plan, put in place for 2017 to 2019, has already started to pay dividends for the Cell C Sharks.
The last four competitions – Vodacom Super Rugby and Currie Cup (twice) – have seen the Cell C Sharks reach the play-off stages in all four, with appearances in consecutive Currie Cup finals, the climax of which was victory over Western Province at Newlands in last month’s local rugby showpiece.
Success, more often than not, is a product of good planning, aligned with stability in playing and coaching structures, with a succession plan that fills in the gaps.
Given the continuity in playing and coaching personnel under head coach Robert du Preez, the Cell C Sharks will approach the Vodacom Super Rugby competition in 2019 with renewed confidence. We have lofty goals as a union and winning this premier competition is an ambition, we are proud to give a firm commitment to.
After a short break, the Cell C Sharks have commenced their pre-season training last Monday, in preparation for the 2019 season.
To this end, the Cell C Sharks would like to announce our 2019 Vodacom Super Rugby coaching team, which will be led by our Head Coach Robert du Preez. He will be ably assisted by Ricardo Loubscher (backline), Jaco Pienaar (forwards), Braam van Straaten (defence) as well as the new addition to our coaching staff, David Williams, who will be responsible for our attack.
David has a good coaching track record having coached at Kobe Steelers, London Irish and Bath abroad. Locally he’s had stints with the Southern Kings and was their attack coach in their stellar year in 2016, which saw them cause many upsets that year in Vodacom Super Rugby and most recently was part of the Cheetahs coaching team in the Pro14.
“We went through a thorough interview process to appoint a new attack coach and David really impressed us with his vision. He has an astute rugby brain and will add tremendous value to our attacking play. He joined us on Monday and has fitted in well”, said du Preez.
The Sharks would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dick Muir, who was appointed as the Cell C Sharks backline consultant for the 2018 rugby season, for his invaluable contribution to the team’s endeavors this year. He is a respected figure amongst the players and everyone who worked with him and he remains a true son of the black and white jersey.
The Cell C Sharks will play two warm-up matches early February 2019 in preparation for their Vodacom Super Rugby tournament opener against the Sunwolves on Saturday, 16 February in Singapore.
The post VODACOM SUPER RUGBY 2019 appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
The Cell C Sharks Under 19s had a spectacular year, winning the SA Rugby Under 19 Championship after going through the entire season of 14 matches unbeaten.
Their accomplishment came through design and commitment to a dream, with the players embracing a team culture and a pledge to work hard and improve every week.
Head coach Sean Everitt moulded a team of school-leavers from all around the country into a powerful and happy unit which translated into the team’s triumph at the culmination of the season.
The recipe behind the team’s success over the season was very much a player-driven effort. While a coach may set a style and team culture, it’s up to the players to implement and embrace both.
“It can’t just be a coach driving this, it’s got to be an all-in thing,” Everitt explains. “We oversee things as the coaching staff, but the players went away on a camp and came up with their own values. The biggest thing was having the buy in and the success of the team was because everyone bought in.”
However, for any team to be successful, you need good players, “And we certainly did, The Sharks recruited well. We had good players from outside the province as well as some Sharks Academy players who improved over the season.
“Improvement was a goal the players had in place for the year. They wanted to get better every week and were quite hard on themselves in that respect. They did a lot of their own reviews and worked hard to improve where they could and the team did get better.
“The culture in the team was great because they are really good people, everyone lived the values and if you act on values then you develop a strong culture.”
As the team progressed, as they started to believe that special things were in their grasp, so the confidence grew. But the final became a results-driven performance rather than the performance-driven efforts of the season which could have derailed matters.
Ultimately, an emphatic 40-27 victory over the Bulls in the final was convincing evidence that they were by far the best team in the tournament.
“The guys were extremely excited before the game which was a worry for me because they had been composed throughout the whole season,” Everitt explains. “It wasn’t our best 80 minutes of rugby, although we did get better as the game went on. We’re very excited to have pulled through and the players deserved everything they achieved.”
He admitted that much of the team’s success was also built around good preparation. In years passed, the squad would gather six to eight weeks before the competition started, but in 2018 they began early in the year.
“Starting our preparations in January gave us a lot of time to prepare and by the time the tournament started, this was a pretty complete rugby team. There was no learning ‘along the way’, that was all already taken care of. However, even though we won all six games in the first round and were improving all the time, we still weren’t playing to potential. But in the second round, we were a vastly improved team, doubling our try count.
“Probably our most complete performance of the season was beating the Leopards 92-8. They had come off a good win against the Cheetahs and narrowly lost to Western Province the week before, so we knew we were up against a good team, but the guys really stood up.”
The stats show that this was an all-round team. “We defended exceptionally well when we had to – an example of that would be the final – and scoring amazing tries along the way. Scoring 84 tries in 12 games tells a story.”
Although he knew that the team was well-prepared, he wouldn’t have dreamed that the side would go through the season unbeaten. Achieving a 100% success rate in a season is a rare feat, but something the Cell C Sharks Under 19s accomplished.
“The first round game against the Bulls in Pretoria [in week 4] set the benchmark of where we were and where we wanted to be, and we took a lot of belief out of that game. When the final whistle went, I could see how excited and happy the team were and we actually used that as a motivational clip ahead of the final.
“This team wanted to be successful and were ably led by [eighthman] Phepsi Buthelezi. The group set themselves high standards and played for each other which is exactly what you want as a coach. It’s very rewarding.”
Buthelezi’s contribution to the team’s success should not be understated. The former DHS Headboy and 1st XV captain led by example throughout, showing great ability and leadership all season.
“He’s a phenomenal rugby player who was rewarded for his performances when he played flank in the SA Under 20 matches against France,” said Everitt. “He came into The Sharks with good leadership attributes and he and I have a very special relationship. He backed me up with the messages to the team and as a player and captain, was respected by all and the players bought in to everything he had to say in meetings.
“The way he led the team, his interactions with referees, the on-field decisions he made at crucial times were all outstanding. That’s credit to a guy who will go a long way in his rugby career.”
Ultimately the team will look back at this year as a very special one, when they committed to doing everything in their power to succeed, and eventually reaped the rewards.
“We all wanted to create memories, we wanted to remember this year as a special one and I think we achieved everything we set out to do.
“Winning the cup was the cherry on the top.”
The post Recipe for Success appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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