It was a touch ironic that a Sharks coach, who has been bemoaning an injury list longer that his arm, praised the strangers that he pulled out of nowhere to clinch the 42-22 defeat of Cardiff.
At the end of a tense match in Wales, there were players on both side of the pitch that were unrecognisable to most because the home team had lost eight players to the Six Nations, while John Plumtree might as well have established a hospital ward at Hollywoodbets Kings Park
Plumtree praised his “impact players” after the Sharks’ 42-22 win against Cardiff at the Arms Park on Saturday.
The Durbanites were looking good at 28-10 early in the second half when Bongi Mbonambi scored his second try, but Cardiff were good for two tries to narrow the gap six points with 20 minutes to go.
“I’m thrilled with the result,” said Plumtree. “I thought Cardiff were excellent and played attacking rugby that stressed our defence on a number of occasions.
“Losing (flank) Manu Tshituka and (No 8) Nick Hatton early in the game put a lot of stress on our forwards, but I thought Deon Slabbert, having only been with us for a few days, did really well coming off the bench. Jason Jenkins also adjusted well and showed his experience in the line-outs.
“The critical thing in the last 15 minutes, was when we put the impact players on and how they closed the game out,” Plumtree added. “I thought the front row was excellent and obviously also Lukhanyo (Am), Francois Venter and Jaden (Hendrikse).
“I loved the way we closed out the game with the two late tries, but it could have gone either way.”
With the Six Nations kicking off next weekend, the Sharks will resume their URC campaign on 15 February against the Bulls at Loftus.