Sharks head coach John Plumtree hailed his players after they booked their place in the United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-finals in dramatic fashion against Munster in Durban on Saturday.
The play-off clash was all square at 24-24 after 80 minutes and a 20-minute period of extra time before the home side advanced to the semi-final courtesy of a 6-4 penalty shootout win.
They will now head to Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria where they will take on the Bulls in their URC semi-final while Leinster will host defending champions Glasgow Warriors in the other last four clash.
Plumtree admitted that they had to dig deep to get the job done but praised his players’ resilience under the circumstances.
‘I’ve never been involved in a game like this’
“It was a tough battle,” said Plumtree after the match. “I’ve never been involved in a game like this. I’m just proud of the boys.
“We didn’t play particularly well in the first 20-30 minutes of the game, but then we got on top.
“We had a couple of bad moments when they got to 21-10 and then we just clawed our way back in [to the game]. And going down to the kickers like that, I was just so proud of them.”
Plumtree revealed that they were scrambling in the Sharks‘ coaching box to read up on the rules of the penalty shootout during the closing stages of extra time. drew closer.
The Sharks eventually sent on replacement scrum-half Bradley Davids in Makazole Mapimpi’s place in the game’s dying moment to give them a third goal-kicking option.
“We were scrambling in the [coaches] box to get the pitch map for the kickers,” admitted Plumtree.
“With 10 minutes [of extra time remaining] we talked about getting Bradley on, because we know he’s a classy little kicker. So we got him on with two minutes to go.
“And wow, what a moment for him, kicking the goal to win the match. Huge BMT for a young fella, so I’m proud of him.”
Sharks skipper Eben Etzebeth thanked his goal-kickers – Davids and the Hendrikse brothers (Jordan and Jaden) – for holding their nerve to slot all their shots at goal during the penalty shootout.
“I thought it would be over before the 100 minutes,” said the veteran Springboks second-row.
‘Thank goodness, we won that lottery’
“And then going to goal kicks. I don’t know how those guys felt. Having to take those kicks must be very stressful. Thank goodness, we won that lottery.”
Match-winner Davids, who slotted a 40-metre from a tight angle kick, said there’s good competition amongst the Sharks’ goal-kickers.
“We kick a lot against each other to see – if Jordan gets injured – who will take over,” said the 22-year-old.
“We always challenge each other to see who’s kicking the best in training. Luckily, it came off tonight.
“My girlfriend gets fed up with me because I always want to do extra kicks after training. She brings her work along to the side of the field. Credit to her for coming along and watching me kick. We actually do a shot clock and kick under pressure and fatigue.”
READ MORE: Springboks star’s ‘shameless gamesmanship’ in the spotlight after Sharks’ URC triumph over Munster
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/john-plumtree-makes-candid-revelation-about-sharks-penalty-shootout-triumph-over-munster
