Following a 29-19 victory for the Sharks over the Scarlets, here are our five takeaways from the United Rugby Championship clash at Kings Park Stadium on Saturday.
The top line
John Plumtree’s Sharks ended their barren URC streak at the start of the 2025/26 season but again it was not entirely convincing, despite sealing a bonus-point victory over a resilient Scarlets outfit.
It was a battle between two winless sides, but the hosts, as should be expected, had enough quality to overcome the Welsh region and kick-start their campaign.
They looked in for another difficult afternoon when Tom Rogers went over – adding to earlier tries from Blair Murray and Marnus van der Merwe – to level the scores at 19-19, but the Springboks’ power took over after that.
The Tshituka brothers, Emmanuel and Vincent, both touched down for the Sharks before Lee-Marvin Mazibuko – a late replacement for Vincent Koch – crossed the whitewash, but they had to rely on their scrum – with Ox Nche to the fore – to wrestle control of the encounter.
They then held off the Scarlets with a bit more comfort as a Siya Kolisi try and Jean Smith penalty sealed the win.
Sharks underwhelm again
It feels as though it is said every week, but it is staggering that a team which contains so many Springbok stars continually flatters to deceive. There were moments of individual brilliance that showed their class, but as a unit, they were sadly lacking.
There were some barnstorming Kolisi surges, a couple of exceptional moments from Ethan Hooker in the air thanks to Grant Williams’ excellent box-kicking, but they made so many errors that it hampers any sort of cohesiveness.
On both sides of the ball, there were mistakes which make you question whether some of these players have ever played Test rugby, let alone be some of the game’s modern-day greats. It must be remembered that this Scarlets outfit have been shambolically bad so far this season and were humbled by the Stormers at home two weeks ago, but they managed to cause the Sharks plenty of problems.
Too late to save John Plumtree?
There have been murmurings for a while, with fans unhappy with the Sharks’ displays under the former All Blacks coach, but you just wonder if the hierarchy will pull the trigger during the international break. He will certainly remain under pressure at the very least.
After this game, they have over a month until their next match, which would feasibly give them time to get a new person in. Plumtree’s men went into this encounter without a win following three defeats in four – A dreadful draw with the Dragons their only ‘positive’ result – and although they ended that drought, it was hardly convincing.
There was no discernible improvement against the Scarlets, which has been symptomatic of the Sharks during Plumtree’s reign. In fairness, he had a big rebuilding job when he arrived in 2023 and going from 14th, with four wins, to third and a semi-final a season later does suggest excellent progress, but in truth, the performances were not convincing, and they did not look like realistic title challengers in 2024/25.
With their resources, the Sharks should be doing far better than they are, but the development has not really been forthcoming.
Scrum and maul
A couple of areas which, to their credit, the Sharks found joy, but, again, when you have an almost all-Springboks front five, which includes Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Eben Etzebeth, they should be dominant, particularly against a side like the Scarlets, who are struggling.
The Welsh region stayed in the contest for 45 minutes, but when Nche and co. got to work in the set-piece, their life became much, much harder. You could not doubt the visitors’ work ethic, while the mistakes continued to come from the hosts, but not having a functioning set-piece certainly cost them the chance of going for the win.
Scarlets improvement and issues
This is certainly not the side that was outplayed by Munster and embarrassed at home by the Stormers. On a daunting tour to South Africa, they were competitive against a Lions outfit that put 49 points on a previously unbeaten Ulster and ran a Springboks-laden Sharks relatively close.
You therefore have to give credit to the players and coaches for rectifying some of those problems, but now they need results. The Scarlets played some excellent rugby at times, breaking through the hosts’ defence on occasions and touching down three times.
They probably deserved a bonus-point, and they had their chances in the final quarter to get that extra score, but some improved last-ditch defence, combined with the visitors’ profligacy, meant the Scarlets went away with nothing for the fourth successive game.