Sharks coach John Plumtree aims to end the British and Irish Lions’ winning three-game run today but is upset he won’t have nine of his Springboks stars to help him.
The nine are in a training camp preparing for the three Tests and Plumtree laments the fact that the ’Boks won’t release players to face the Lions in the tourists’ six warmup games.
“I think it is a shame that a unique tour such as this does not have the best players playing the Lions,” Plumtree said ahead of today’s game in Durban.
“It is a pity. The tour should be a celebration of rugby. There should be less emphasis on winning the series and more on appreciating what is great about rugby,” he said.
“I would like to have seen a full strength Western Province team playing the Lions at Newlands [on Saturday] and that would be an occasion to remember. The same goes for the Sharks,” Plumtree said.
The New Zealander said the practice of not letting potential Test players face touring teams had become the norm.
“The same thing happened in New Zealand in 2005 when I was coaching Wellington,” he said. “We were not allowed to use our All Blacks.”
Sharks captain Johann Muller, who will line up in the second row and pack down against Lions captain Paul O’Connell, said the practice would mean that some of the ’Boks players wouldn’t face the Lions at all.
“There are 28 players in the Springboks squad and a good few of those will not end up being used in the Tests,” he said. “So they will wind up not having played against the Lions who are here once in a lifetime. How sad is that?”
The nine missing from the Sharks squad on Wednesday are backs Odwa Ndungane, JP Pietersen, Adrian Jacobs, Ruan Pienaar and Frans Steyn and forwards Ryan Kankowski, Tendai Mtawarira, John Smit and Bismarck du Plessis.
Only prop Deon Carstens has been released from the ’Boks squad to play in this game, but the weakened Sharks lineup will have three others with Test experience, Muller, Stefan Terblanche and Jannie du Plessis.
There is little doubt that a full strength Sharks lineup would have had every chance to end the Lions’ winning run with Ian McGeechan and his coaching team striving to find a way of combatting the ’Boks strength at the breakdown.
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