There used to be a question asked of schoolboys in Durban back in the 1970s - So who was it that saved Port Natal? The answer was Dick King and Ndongeni, and there was an old statue somewhere on the Esplanade reminding us of the famous ride in 1842 to the Grahamstown garrison, many hundreds of kilometres and 120 river crossings away, to get relief for the besieged troops.
Well it’s a long time later now, and Port Natal is now Durban, and Natal, long known as the "Last Outpost of the British Empire", is now KwaZulu/Natal, but the region still occasionally needs saving on the sports fields, most particularly at this time when the Hollywoodbets Sharks haven’t exactly made a great fist of the start to their respective Vodacom United Rugby Championship and Investec Champions Cup campaigns.
There is a bleak mood hanging over Sharks rugby but there was a shard of cheer delivered on the occasion of JP Pietersen’s first game as head coach of the senior team and skipper Andre Esterhuizen’s 100th game. The Champions Cup game against Saracens was always a must win game, but it should have become even more so when it was learned that the English team were going into the game significantly under-strength.
With the weather conditions bringing the siege atmosphere that the Boer soldiers did after the Battle of Congella nearly 200 years ago, it was a challenging game for the Sharks as their opponents, although de-powered by their selection, would have felt the conditions were far more what they are used to than what the Sharks are used to.
To be frank, the Sharks didn’t impress, and they were lucky to win. They were helped in no small part by the perfectly justified yellow card shown to a Saracens player in the second half that robbed the visitors of the momentum that appeared to be building. But what they did have was two players who re-enacted over 80 minutes what King and Ndongeni did all those years ago. Esterhuizen, and his able ally in resisting all pressures, his fellow Bok centre Ethan Hooker.
It was almost as if those two, and in particular Esterhuizen, pulled the Sharks over the line, that the pair had resolved that no matter what their teammates did or didn’t do, they were going to ensure that the franchise where Esterhuizen played from age-group level and Hooker represented at school would prevail.
JP SINGLED THEM OUT
It was no surprise that their coach, Pietersen, singled them out for special mention afterwards, for they really did save the Sharks.
“They complement each other really well, both on attack and on defence,” said the new Sharks coach.
“With them there it feels like we have 10 forwards on the field,” added Pietersen in recognition that like Esterhuizen, Hooker has morphed into an auxiliary flanker in how he goes about his business on the field.
“When the forwards don’t give us momentum, we can rely on Andre and Ethan to do something in the midfield that will give us momentum,” he continued.
It has long been thus, at least with Esterhuizen, both before his move to Harlequins and post it. However, Hooker now adds an extra quiver to the Sharks’ bow. Of course Hooker has played most of his games for the Boks thus far on the wing, but it is at centre that Pietersen feels his future lies.
“Ethan is a centre. Him playing wing is just an option,” said Pietersen. “From my side, I am very comfortable with him there.”
Certainly it would be good if the Sharks can settle on a midfield, for there has been a lot of rotation in the position recently, although that is almost expected when you also have the now departed to Japan Lukhanyo Am, the highly promising Jurenzo Julius and the Bok capped Francois Venter on your books.
It may be a good idea to settle on a younger flyhalf in time but the conditions suited the game of their 36-year-old recruit from Griquas, George Whitehead, perfectly and it will be interesting to see what combinations that Pietersen goes with at the back for Saturday’s important URC derby against the Vodacom Bulls at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
Aphelele Fassi went down in the second half and there’d have been concern as he was playing his comeback game after being injured playing for the Boks against the All Blacks in Wellington in September but he appeared okay and didn’t go off the field on the stretcher that was sent out for him. If he’s available going forward it should facilitate the return of another Bok, Jordan Hendrikse, into the No 10 jersey as it'd be less necessary for him to moonlight in the last line of defence.