As Super Rugby preparations are underway by all franchises early in January, a quick peek at some of the things popping out at the Cell C Sharks.
We take a quick look at Brendan Venter’s role while Gary Gold is still in Japan. Renaldo Bothma tells of his tremendous growth at the Sharks in pre-season and Giant Mtyanda is drafted in to train with the Sharks as extra lock cover.
Brendan Venter takes charge:
Brendan Venter has taken charge of the Sharks in pre-season with Director or Rugby Gary Gold still tied up with his commitments in Japan.
Gold was named Sharks Director of Rugby in October last year after the departure of Jake White.
But he still has commitments in Japan where he is finishing his stint as coach of the Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers. Gold will join the Sharks early next month when they tackle French and European champions Toulon in a friendly clash.
In the meantime, Venter will prepare the team for this year’s Super Rugby competition. Venter helped coach the Sharks to Currie Cup glory in 2013 before White was given the head coaching job in Durban.
Throughout the year, Venter will offer insights to the Sharks in an advisory capacity.
Assistant coaches Brad MacLeod-Henderson, Sean Everitt and Paul Anthony are also on hand as the Sharks prepare for a training game against a team made up of various Durban clubs in two weeks, before heading off to France.
Renaldo Bothma:
New Sharks recruit Renaldo Bothma says his game has grown in leaps and bounds since coming under the pupilage of the Sharks and their technical director, Brendan Venter.
Bothma, who joined the Sharks in November last year after a stellar season with the Pumas in the Currie Cup, says he has developed at a rapid pace as a player since pre-season began at the Sharks mid-November.
The Sharks coaching set-up has a very different shape to the usual three-coach system that most teams adopt with Gary Gold heading up the team as Director of Rugby surrounded by a number of other men.
Brendan Venter is acting as an advisor for the season, but at present he is taking the lead in Gold’s absence, Currie cup coaches Brad Mcleod-Henderson (head coach), Sean Everitt (backline coach) and Paul Anthony (forwards caoch) as well as Michael Horack (defence coach) and Brad Mooar (specialist attack advisor) are all there in assistance.
“I have been enjoying it a lot and I have learned plenty form Brendan and all of the other guys,” Bothma said.
“I am growing as a player and I am looking forward to the season.
“I am feeling a lot more confident at the beginning of this season in comparison to this time last year, the time with Brendan, Brad, Sean Everitt and all the guys coaching us has helped me grow.
“I have developed so much in the last couple of weeks.”
Bothma puts his growth down to the Sharks multitude of coaches as well as the famed ‘Venter factor’
“Brendan is leading everything at the moment until Gary returns from Japan,” he continued.
“It makes it a bit easier having all these coaches around, every coach has a role to play and it makes the job a lot easier for Brendan and especially for the players.
“There are a lot of coaches looking at everything that we are doing so we are getting a lot of personal attention in the smaller details.
“If you are doing something wrong in defence for instance, there are a number of coaches who will come up to you and explain things further after training, it makes a huge difference to have a lot of coaches like that.”
Bothma is unsurprisingly looking to make an impact and to get as much game time as possible with the 2014 South African conference winners, as such he is willing to play anywhere to get on the park.
“I am quite mobile so I can play any position in the loose trio and for me, at this moment, as long as I get game time and get on the field I don’t care what position I play,” Bothma said
“I have enough belief in the coaches that they will put me in the right position for the benefit of the team.
“I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks and the start of the season so I can see where I am skills-wise and to see how much I have learnt in my short time with the Sharks.”
Giant Mtyanda:
Pumas lock Lubabalo “Giant” Mtyanda is training with the Sharks as they prepare for the Super Rugby competition.
The Sharks returned for pre-season training earlier this week, where a number of new faces were on show.
With Stephan Lewies still on the sidelines and Pieter-Steph du Toit still working his way back to fitness after a long injury lay-off, Mtyanda has been drafted into the Sharks squad as extra cover in the second row.
Mtyanda, 28, performed adequately for the Pumas in last year’s Currie Cup Premier Division and now has an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the Sharks’ Super Rugby squad.
Assistant coach Sean Everitt said that Mtyanda was drafted in as back-up and that he’s done well in training. He also said the lock was thriving in their environment and settled in very well in Durban.
The Sharks will start their pre-season with a training game against a team made up of various Durban clubs in two weeks, before heading overseas to face the French and European champions, Toulon on 5 February.
They start their Super Rugby campaign at home against the Cheetahs on 14 February.
27 @ grootblousmile:
“Time and tide wait for no man”.
Was a woes couple of weeks.
Went to the farm. No electricity. No phone signal. No hot water (except when the sun hots it up in the pipes, then it’s too varking hot). No shade when “draad trekking” in the veld. Very few consumers of alcohol.
Eish it was “different”.
Then matric results and the stress of the bloody spoiled brat.
Now chasing all of the varked up people that STILL owe me money from December and only open today.
FFS I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t be better to vark off to “mud island” and live off benefits?
Who else will we pick? we rely on Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel who we give as little game time in LO’s cricket as possible… It is laughable.
30 @ John Galt:
So the “law of averages” well and truly at play then?
At least it was a visual cricketing spectacle seeing him , Faf and Gayle bash it about.
29 @ MacroBull:
Farkit, Abbott was like shotgun yesterday…. all over the place.
Lenghts from almost under his vastrapvoet till rank full tosses…. and dispersed from wide left to wide right
I think Scattergun is the better description!
32 @ MacroBull:
Willem Alberts?
@ grootblousmile:
Yep, he bowled 4 full tosses in a row to gayle. He was terrible yesterday and like Nama said, it will be interesting to see how he picks himself up after this.
29 @ MacroBull:
Where is Charl Langeveld these days?
Scrumdown wrote:
Willie le Roux was not bad 😆
33 @ Scrumdown:
Jinne, one 6 of Miller was classic… right over the highest points of the grand stand onto the golf course, close enough for an easy birdie on the green!
Imagine the pitch mark!
@ grootblousmile:
He is part time bowling coach with the Proteas for this series.
http://cricket.co.za/news/4272/Langeveldt-joins-Proteas-for-the-limited-overs-series
40 @ MacroBull:
Flok, they must maar convince him to put on the krieketkleertjies again!
Damn, I have to go to Home Affairs this afternoon still… me and Handbriekie and Bonzaihandbriekie.
Need to sort our Passports out.
Planning a little trip to Mozambique in March somewhere… getting a smart lodge which sleeps 38, on an island, for free!
T20 can be a crapshoot at the best of times.
Even 50 overs.
But they play towards the requirements of TV perfectly so they will continue to grow imo.
Over 400 runs scored within 40 overs.
Incredible stuff!
@ grootblousmile:
Sal maar kyk wat gebeur, daar is maar n groot verskil tussen T20 en ODI krieket.
43 @ Stormersboy:
44 @ MacroBull:
Granted, T20 is Moer and Soek… and ODI’s is a hybrid… but still a bit of Moer and Soek!
44 @ MacroBull:
Abbott gaan ons duur kos in die ODI’s
@ grootblousmile:
ODI maak verseker die gebruik van hoer konsentrasie vermoe.
Ek hoop Abott kry kand om homself te “redeem” hulle moet hom maar baie kans gee voor die wereld beker. Probleem is dat ek nie juis baie geloof het in enige iemand anders nie. Die Aussies het ons ander “beter” bowlers redelik geblixem onlangs.
Seems to me that the quickies get the worst part of the deal when it comes to the shorter versions. The ball just comes off the bat so much quicker.
You need to almost have 2 quickies, 2 medium pacers who can bowl it really tight with the keeper standing up like AB did with Behardien last year.
If you bowl spin you need to be extremely accurate, and vary the turn and bounce as the guys will look to put them away over the boundries and that is where you will have a good chance of taking wickets.
Easier said than done though.
47 @ MacroBull:
Flok, as hy nie eers vir 20 Overs kan konsentreer nie, het hy dalk Rittelin nodig!
Ek hoop maar jy is reg, Moosa!
@ grootblousmile:
Maar dit is verseker Abott het n opdraende stryd. Moenie my verkeerd verstaan nie. ek se nie hy is “wereld klas’ nie ek se nie ons bowl aanval is n groot swakpunt van ons oor die algemeen.
Stormersboy wrote:
I think the only chance we have at the world cup is that Tahir has a freak tournament. Amla and AB wont be able to save us all the time.
MacroBull wrote:
True. I hope so.
51 @ MacroBull:
Flok, ek trust Tahir en sy Aeroplanetjie ookie juis nie!
There has been somewhat media silence since Jake White returned to the “losing ways” the last weekend.
Wat gaan julle oor ‘n naweek in Maart hier op R-T doen as ek in Mozambique sit en sambreeltjie drankies suip?
54 @ MacroBull:
Nee flok, ek kry netnie kans om daai storie te plaas hier op R-T nie… te besig om kakkas te praat met julle klomp!
grootblousmile wrote:
hehe ag hy het darem goeie stats… ongelukkig nie juis uitstekend in Aus nie.
grootblousmile wrote:
We’ll be sitting behind our computers swearing at you of course….. 😉
As ek hier verdwyn, dan moet julle weet, ek is weggeraap… Binnelandse Sake toe
58 @ Stormersboy:
Ja… I see the chaps say a lot of things are my fault, lately here on R-T.
Maar, nouja… see the worry in MY EYE!
Luckily I am thick-skinned and has a back like a duck!
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