The Sharks have managed to slip from dire to worse, winless after 3 games into the new Super 14 season. How has a team laden with Springboks, and serious title contenders the past few years, fallen so far?
The answer lies with one man, and one position — Ruan Pienaar.
It might seem wrong to blame the malaise of a team on one individual, or one position, but I think it’s important to look at the history.
In 2007, the Sharks were beaten finalists, but were head-and-shoulders the best team in the competition – only two moments of madness from Francios Steyn saw them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Pienaar was at scrumhalf, with Butch James at flyhalf, but it was Pienaar who commanded the team – he was confident, dynamic, and quite possibly the best scrumhalf in the world … or at least 2nd behind Du Preez.
When Butch James left, the interesting experiment of playing Pienaar at flyhalf began … and that’s where the decline started. Pienaar has steadily lost confidence with each passing week, and the Sharks have missed his spark.
They have become a defensive side, incapable of the superb counter-attacking ability they used to display. The backline has had no impetus for a couple seasons now. Pienaar is unhappy, his confidence in ruins, and he’s a shadow of his former self. The time has come to end the experiment, restore him to his chosen position, and rebuild a shattered career.
Peter De Villiers is right, Ruan Pienaar is the Tiger Woods of rugby – right after he crashed his Navigator and got clubbed by his wife. But in all seriousness, he is as important to the Sharks as Du Preez is to the Springboks and Bulls.
They are ineffective without him, and as good a player as Kockett is, he is more the Rory Sabbatini of rugby – a good scrapper, but lacking true greatness.
Return Pienaar to scrumhalf – it doesn’t even matter who plays flyhalf (as long as its not John Smit looking to extend his career… but that’s a different story) – and the Sharks will rise again.
Better to be the second best scrumhalf in the world, than a mediocre flyhalf.
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