Plum yet to deal with siya issues 

The Sharks paid R18 million to Racing 92 only four months ago to bring the Springbok captain back to Durban after an unsuccessful stint in France.

However, Kolisi and his wife, Rachel, have since announced their divorce after a decade together. Rachel has returned to Cape Town with their two children as well as Kolisi’s younger sister and brother, who the former couple adopted.

Kolisi captained the Sharks in Saturday’s match against the Stormers, after which Plumtree was asked about the player’s situation.

“It hasn’t been something that we’ve really handled yet,” Plumtree said. “It was a bit of a surprise to me, and it came about at a time when we were preparing for this game.

“With me, I separate that type of matter, and what matters more to me is the team and not one person’s issue, even if it is the captain. I just asked him if he’s on board, he said yes he is, so let’s get ready for this game.

“We’ll deal with that over the next, whatever, I don’t know. I’m not going to deal with it now.”

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Stormers v Sharks: Five takeaways as Manie Libbok’s brilliance ‘papers over’ shortcomings while Springboks’ injuries rack up

Following the epic South African United Rugby Championship (URC) derby in Cape Town, here are our five takeaways from the Stormers’ 24-20 victory over the Sharks.

The top line

It was a mixed bag of a South African URC derby at DHL Stadium with the match jampacked with the traditional brutality, physicality and drama with a fair helping of sheer madness and comical inaccuracies.

In the end, it was the hosts who claimed the Coastal Derby bragging rights with hugely popular tries from Seabelo Senatla, Deon Fourie, Manie Libbok and Jean-Luc du Plessis seeing them to victory.

For the Sharks, they will rue their missed opportunities and soft moments as they fell to a defeat despite holding a late lead after scores from Yaw Penxe and Jordan Hendrikse, with the latter adding ten points from the tee.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s luckless run

For a third time in a row, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has failed to play more than a half of rugby as his battles with injuries continue. The Springboks‘ breakout star sustained a knock to his shoulder in the opening minute of the game and received some treatment before opting to stay on the pitch.

While he battled through the pain, he eventually called it quits in the 37th minute and rightfully looked dejected as he left the pitch. The rising star’s continuous injury setbacks have raised much concern from the public with many stating that John Dobson’s decision to play him at inside centre is not helping prevent these strains.

There is certainly some merit to that opinion with the inside centre channel usually having to deal with powerhouse backs such as Andre Esterhuizen and after sustaining his early injury, Feinberg-Mngomezulu could not contain his Springbok counterpart.

But one must question whether desperation from the Stormers to get results has led to the premature return of Feinberg-Mngomezulu who could well now be forced to sit on the sidelines for another lengthy period. Dobson explained earlier this week that he was reluctant to alter his squad too much in an attempt to get more fluidity which meant that Feinberg-Mngomezulu retained his role but perhaps a cameo off the bench would have been better for the individual right now and the team longer term.

The injury setbacks were not limited to just the Stormers, however, as the rare sight of two players being carted off together will have annoyed Sharks boss John Plumtree. Both Aphelele Fassi and Esterhuizen are now in doubt for the Sharks’ start to 2025 after the Bok duo sustained what looked to be knee injuries.

New Year resolutions

2025 provides somewhat of a clean slate for so many and in rugby terms, it is no different.

For Libbok becoming a reliable place kicker is an absolute must as it is not only putting the Stormers under immense pressure but is hurting his international ambitions. The playmaker was kicking superbly out of hand today and it paid dividends, particularly with Fourie’s second-half try but almost immediately afterwards, he had the crowd cheering his name as they attempted to inspire him to add the extras but again he was wide. This was after two missed shots from the tee in the opening 40 minutes. He made things easier for himself later in the half when scorched through the Sharks’ defence which again papered over the cracks of his woeful kicking statistics. Ultimately, his missed kicks were not enough to result in a defeat but they will come back to bite him.

As for the Sharks, Plumtree’s charges really need to piece together more consistent performances. Yes, they haven’t had the ideal access to their players on a regular basis but the same applies to the Stormers. However, far too often in 2024, the Durbanites have been in a position to win a match but have found a way to blow it. After brilliantly getting themselves back into the lead in the latter stages today, a soft penalty gifted the Stormers a route to victory the hosts did not waste it.

Set-piece concerns

While the Springboks’ set-piece steamed along in 2024, the same was not true for the Sharks and Stormers today despite a healthy littering of internationals in both packs.

For the Sharks, the likes of Ox Nche and Vincent Koch in the starting XV were unable to get the upper hand of Frans Malherbe and Alistair Vermaak with the latter pair eking out penalties in the first 40 minutes. It did not get much easier for the Durbanites when Ruan Dreyer and Hanro Jacobs entered proceedings. Plumtree and his coaching team really need to get more out of their powerhouse pack in the set-piece as the difference in performance when Eben Etzebeth and Bongi Mbonambi are there and when they are not is far too stark.

On a similar note, the Stormers’ lineout on the whole today was shambolic and only saved by the Sharks’ decision to concern themselves with defending the maul in their 22 instead of competing. With Joseph Dweba withdrawing from the match prior to kick-off, Andre-Hugo Venter was given the starting role and frankly disappointed in the lineouts with far too many of his darts escaping the clutches of his jumpers. Stunningly, it was Dweba who had these issues earlier in the year rather than Venter but a fix is desperately needed.

Not all doom and gloom

The next time we will see these two sides in action will be on home soil in the Investec Champions Cup in January next year and frankly, there is reason for fans to be hopeful.

The Sharks face a firing Toulouse side and if they do get a handful of timely injury boosts, they can certainly put up a strong fight. For long passages of play today, Joey Mongalo’s defence stood firm notably at the end of the first half when the Stormers had them under the cosh and they were a man down. Toulouse are arguably the best-attacking team in club rugby in the world right now but the Sharks do have a defensive system capable of causing some headaches, they just need to stick to task. Today, only one of the Stormers’ four tries came through a failure to execute the system with two more basically coming from strong mauls and another being a fortune bounce of the ball.

As for the Stormers, Dobson’s team were able to find a way to win something that has not come easily this season. Losing is just as much of a habit as winning and the Capetonians looked to have kicked the former habit for the latter after going back-to-back in the festive fixtures despite not playing convincingly well. That will need to change when they face the other Sharks, Sale, next month after the Premiership club showed their ruthlessness against Bristol Bears this weekend.