In English football, they return to “new manager bounce”, which is a reference to the tendency after a long period of poor results and the sacking of a manager for there to be an immediate short-term upward swing in performance.
It often is short-term, but there are logical reasons why this happens. A new voice coming in, and a perception of a fresh start, plus the need “to impress the new gaffer”, as an English footballer might put it, takes a team out of the humdrum, out of the train of negativity and can inspire a rejuvenation.
It happens in rugby too and two decades ago, when the Sharks dispensed with Kevin Putt as their head coach just before an Easter weekend Super Rugby clash with what was then a rated Brumbies team, they profited from “new manager bounce” when Dick Muir coached them to an unexpected victory that was out of keeping with the trend of the season to that point.
The Sharks’ improvement didn’t continue to be as sharp for the rest of that 2005 season, which made sense as Muir hadn’t had time yet to bring in his own game, and his brave decisions to back youngsters were in the future.
One of those youngsters was a teenage JP Pietersen, who 20 years later may be driving his own “new manager bounce” mini-revival at the Hollywoodbets Sharks, with this weekend’s home Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby against the Lions representing a chance to prove that the revival can go beyond “mini” and become more substantive.
A NEW VOICE
John Plumtree himself said in the interview where he publicly announced that he would hand over the reins to 39-year-old Pietersen in the hope that it would give the long-time Sharks man a chance to establish himself as a contender to take on the job personally, that the Sharks might need a new voice. A new voice is often good, and the experienced Sharks flanker Vincent Tshituka attested to that ahead of Saturday’s meeting with his former team.
“It’s obviously been a really exciting time at the Sharks,” said Tshituka. “We’ve had two good wins after a rough start to the season, and I think it’s helped us build a bit of momentum and confidence that we needed.”
Neither Saracens in the Investec Champions Cup nor the Vodacom Bulls in the URC were at full strength in games where the Sharks would be the first to admit they were still far from rousingly convincing, but what was important was that there were two wins in succession, and after what had gone before, that was significant.
Pietersen was responsible for turning around two drifting Carling Currie Cup campaigns when he was the coach of the Sharks XV, and the leadership he showed there appears to be rubbing off on the senior players.
“JP has really challenged us on going from good to great, and that’s lifted our standards in everything we do,” Pietersen said.
“There are a lot of players taking personal responsibility and driving those standards. There’s been a lot of buy-in over the last couple of weeks, and it’s been great.”
Tshituka believes the Sharks can still turn their season around, and he is right about that as it is still relatively early days in the competition, and the Sharks are not the only team to have started off poorly in the URC. Finishing in the top eight will put them in the play-offs and secure their continued participation in the Champions Cup, and while they are 13th at the moment, five places off the top bracket, they are just five log points, meaning a bonus point win, behind the eighth-placed Lions.
But that is what makes Saturday’s such an important game for the Sharks - if they beat the Lions they will be breathing down the necks of their fellow South African team, but if they lose there will be a widening gap and they may see themselves to be back at square one when it comes to convincing the long suffering Durban faithful that they are still in the mix for a good season.
The Sharks team for the Lions game will be announced later on Wednesday, but it is expected that Pietersen will go full strength as the Sharks head into a chocker-block January that also features two Champions Cup games before back-to-back home and away coastal derbies against the Stormers.