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The Sharks are the most successful Super Rugby team to have never won the competition. It’s a weird tag, but one they deserve.
They have reached the final five times and walked away as the runners on each occasion.
They have hosted the final at home twice, and yet could not pick up the silverware in Kings Park, Durban. It’s heartbreaking for Sharks or Natal fans. So close, yet so far.
Out of the 20 years I am using (1993 to 2013, and excluding 1995), they have also made the playoffs nine times, and have been very close to a play-off spot in a number of other years. It hasn’t all been rosy though, they have finished in the bottom three places in four of these years during the early 2000s.
Their first final was in 1994 against the Queensland Reds at Kings Park during the Super 10 days.
All I can recall about that game was all four centres went off injured, such was the brutality in the midfield. The slick Queensland duo of Tim Horan and Jason Little along with Natal’s powerhouses Pieter Muller and Jeremy Thompson tackled each other out of the game. But it was a good Queensland team that prevailed 21-10 at the end of the day.
And such began the days of disappointment for me from my family’s Row F season ticket seats in the main grandstand. In 2014, we still have the same seats that we have held since 1991, the year after Natal won their first Currie Cup, the centenary year of the competition.
Natal did not partake in the competition in 1995, Queensland won it again that year.
In 1996, the first year of Super 12, the Natal Sharks flew to Brisbane for the semi-final and exacted revenge on the high-flying Queensland Reds, humbling them with a 43-25 victory. Unfortunately, the Sharks were in turn humbled by Jonah Lomu and the Auckland Blues in New Zealand and sadly missed their second shot at silverware.
Fast forward to 2001. with the young guns Butch James and John Smit being a driving force in that “Coastal Sharks” team. No New Zealand teams took part in the semi-finals and the Sharks, who finished second, won their home semi-final against the Cats, to set up a Canberra showdown against the Brumbies.
Would it be third time lucky? No sir. They went down 36-6 on a cold Canberra night to a George Smith, George Gregan, Stephen Larkham and Joe Roff team that were simply sublime.
A few of their worst years passed, until six years later the Sharks powered through the season to finish top of the log in 2007, the only time they have done so.
This team had quality written all over it, with an in-form Butch James again being the decision maker at 10, John Smit leading from the front, Percy Montgomery holding the fort at the back and using his deadly accurate boot to make sure the Sharks always got the better of their opponents.
The two young 19-year-olds, JP Pieterson and Frans Steyn, ignited play on the wings, with JP finishing as the top try-scorer in the competition that year.
They dispatched the Blues in the semi-finals pretty easily to set-up an all-South African showdown with the rampant Bulls at Kings Park, Durban.
The Sharks lead 14-13 for a long time and the tight game finally broke open when Albert van den Berg crashed over in the 77th minute to score the winning try and seal the Sharks’ first ever Super Rugby trophy.
“We’ve won, we’ve won,” I screamed at the top of my lungs at my brother and father in our Row F seats while jumping up and down exuberantly and with extreme joy. The Bulls fans started streaming out of the stadium, defeated, and the Sharks fans erupted in ‘ole, ole, ole, ole’.
That was it… we’d won it. Finally. Surely.
Oh no. What happened next could not have been scripted any worse for Sharks players and fans alike. It was a diabolical chain of errors that lead to the worst ending of a rugby game that I have ever experienced in my entire life.
Not even the Springboks versus the Wallabies semi-final in the 1999 World Cup, when Larkham sunk the Boks in extra time, came close to how much this loss hurt.
Dick Muir must rue taking both John Smit and Percy Montgomery off the field in the last 10 minutes. How could he do that? Why he made that call I will never know. During my exuberance and celebrations, the young 19-year-old Frans Steyn stepped up and decided to snatch the ball away from Butch James to take the conversion in Montgomery’s absence.
Without the leadership of Smit to step in and correct this, James obliged to let young Frans have a bit of glory to slot the final conversion and seal the Championship. Steyn lined up and completely messed up the easy conversion, thus leading to their own downfall. The Bulls had sniff. 19-13. A converted try would do it.
The Sharks kick off just before the hooter went off to give the Bulls possession. They surged forward, and Bryan Habana sliced through untouched to score in the 83rd minute, well after the hooter had sounded.
Disbelief. Heart-break. Every emotion you can possibly think of and too much to write in words. It was 19-18 and the conversion would win or lose it. Francois Hougaard didn’t miss, and it finished 20-19.
I will never forget the image of Jaco van der Westhuizen climbing up our own poles to stand on the crossbar and rub salt in our wounds. Four finals gone, and this was the best shot.
I was quiet. I could not believe it. The Sharks had won it. They literally had it sealed up and yet they let it slip through their fingers.
There was nothing we could do but move on. Another day, another year, another opportunity would come its way.
The Sharks made the semi-finals in 2008 but lost to the Waratahs. They lost to the Crusaders in the 2011 play-offs after the Bulls had enjoyed rampant success again in 2009 and 2010.
Then a surging Sharks team came into it’s own during the backside on the 2012 season. They sunk their teeth into the Reds in Brisbane, dethroning the existing champions. Then they travelled back to South Africa to take down the Stormers.
JP Pieterson sliced through the Stormers’ defence as though it didn’t even exist, handing the number one team a first home loss of the season. They then went on to tackle the high flying Chiefs.
Sadly it was a bridge too far. The travel back and forth from Australasia to South Africa had caught up with them and again they failed at the final hurdle, when it mattered most. The Sharks suffered another big score in a final, losing 37-6.
So five finals. No wins.
Will 2014 be the same disappointing tale for Sharks players and fans? Or is this finally our year? Please, it has to be.
I really hope they can pull it out of the bag and take the title. But I’ve also learned not to hope too much, not at least until after the final ball has been passed and the final whistle sounded. The hoodoo has to be broken. This is their time to rise up and write their names down in the history books.
This is the time for victory!
Table Positions
Super 12
1996 – 4th – Beat Reds in semi-final. Finished runners-up
1997 – 4th – Lost semi-final to Blues 55-36
1998 – 3rd – Lost semi-final to Crusaders 36-32
1999 – 7th
2000 – 12th – Bottom of the log. Nothing more to say.
2001 – 2nd – Beat Cats in semi-finals. Finished runners-up
2002 – 10th – Sinking back down to near 2000 levels.
2003 – 11th – Again near the bottom.
2004 – 7th – Clawing their way back.
2005 – 12th – Again bottom of the log for the second time.
Super 14
2006 – 5th – Equaled points with the Bulls but missed out on semi-final spot by a points difference of 1.
2007 – 1st – Top of the log. Finished runners-up.
2008 – 3rd – Lost semi-final to Waratahs in Sydney.
2009 – 6th
2010 – 9th
Super Rugby
2011 – 6th – Lost to the Crusaders in the play-offs
2012 – 6th – Won the play-off against the Reds. Beat the Stormers in Cape Town. But could not go the distance against the Chiefs. Finished runners-up.
2013 – 8th – John Plumtree had to settle for an eighth place finish, and subsequently the loss of his job, as John Smit was thrust to the helm.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.