For those concerned that the Sharks’ decision to contract a specialist defensive coach in Mike Horak signals a desire to play conservative rugby, fear not!
A press release from the union this afternoon reveals that Brendan Venter and Gary Gold, in their desire to engender a spirit of attacking rugby, have brought in Kiwi attack specialist Brad Mooar to share his knowledge of this key facet of the game.
Mooar, who is currently the Director of Rugby for Southland in New Zealand (and formerly worked with the EP Kings), will spend a fortnight with the squad during pre-season (including some time with the returning Springboks who will spend next week with him).
“In South Africa, we have a lot of organisation and structure in our rugby, but we do lack natural ability and the kind of flair we associate with New Zealand teams,” says Venter of the initiative.
“We invited attack specialist Brad Mooar over from New Zealand (along with his wife Anna) to spend two weeks with us here at the Cell C Sharks having assessed our attack and the attacking play in general in South Africa. We believe we lack the attacking flair that is prevalent in New Zealand. Having had a conversation with a number of New Zealanders around the issue of attacking rugby, they are very keen to impart their knowledge to other teams and countries. They believe that it is not what you do but how you do it that determines how successful you going to be.”
This willingness on behalf of Gold and Venter to seek outside expertise and advice is something of a departure from the Jake White school of thought and can only add value to the Sharks’ setup.
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Yes boy!!!!!
It’s the 25th but I thought Christmas was only next month 😯 😮 😆
😀 😎
I guess this is a devil’s advocate type question: is two weeks enough? I’d absolutely agree that it’s better than nothing but this sounds like a significant cultural shift. Perhaps Gold and Brendan are confident that they can reinforce it throughout the season.
(Enjoying today’s titles by the way)
😥 Tears of joy are streaming down my face. Can the news get any better?
Yes please…I am looking forward to next season…I know that it won’t all be sunshine and roses, but I think we are taking some good steps here!
Great to see two coaches that’s not afraid to admit they they don’t know everything! !!!
I have to be honest, it is even less about who these guys are, and more about this overall coaching philosophy of making coaching attack and defence a priority as opposed to the old school forwards/backs. Think about the modern game, after the set pieces (scrums and lineouts), backs are often needed to hit rucks to secure ball or even try to steal ball, while forwards are often intermingled among backs both on offense and defense. I strongly believe more focus should be placed with the entire team, on both attack strategy and implementation and defence strategy and implementation. This does not take away from set play which simply requires a lot of time to perfect and maintain skills.
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t Muir implement an attack/defence coaching strategy as opposed to the forwards/backs? I seem to recall he did, and we certainly know about his coaching successes with the Sharks.
It seemed like Plum went back to the old school forwards/backs coaching setup, and I believe that had a lot to do with the stagnation of the Sharks under Plum. Everyone did their job really well, but I never felt there was cohesion between forward and backs. Sometimes it seemed they were both playing two different game plans.
Did anyone else see Drew Mitchell’s reply to John Smit’s tweet about the Toulon game? 😳
@David12246 (Comment 9) : shame man. Poor oke
@robdylan (Comment 10) : I know, and sites like rugbydump.com have seen and replied to it. There is no hiding on Twitter.
@David12246 (Comment 9) : @robdylan (Comment 10) : @David12246 (Comment 11) : What happened?
I think come October, we jump around hoping/wondering what player signings the Sharks made for next season. And being a bit upset when no “major” signings are evident. But we tend to forget about the fringe of a team….those people we never see as often as the players. The coaches, assistants, advisers and in this case the A and D coaches/advisers. First fix whats broken before trying to change the tyres
John Smit tweeted:
@JohnSmit123: “Its easier to win Heineken Cup than to contest a @SuperRugby title, @RCTofficiel how do u feel about a game against the SA Conf champs 2014?”
And Drew Mitchell, who plays for Toulon and used to be a Waratah replied:
@drew_mitchell: “@JohnSmit123 @SuperRugby @RCTofficiel
Thanks but I think we are in talks with the actual winners!! The @NSWWaratahs ..
Maybe another time ????”
IT SOUNDS AS IF THINGS ARE REALLY STARTING TO HAPPEN AT THE SHARK TANK. IT REALLY WARMS MY HEART!
@David12246 (Comment 14) : Well, it is humerous…though not so much fun to be on the receiving end!
Can someone explain why Venter wants to look down people’s sore throats part time when he’s obviously the best South African rugby brain out there.
@David12246 (Comment 14) : Ouch!
Excellent news. We need to hold onto Venter for as long as possible.
Hmmm, seems as if we have a megalomaniac in the house.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 20) : No JW has left a few months ago already 😉
@FireTheLooser (Comment 21) : But what if he hasnt “really” gone.:twisted:
@JustPlainSHARK (Comment 13) : That’s a great way to put it. Nicely said/typed.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 22) : At least the board will keep Johnie Smit in check 😉
@FireTheLooser (Comment 24) : And I think that can be one scary board if they want to be.
And taking it in context, Im sure it was all said in jest.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 25) : They’ll just get a few leg and arm breakers to convince Johnie which direction is best for the balance sheet.
Funny tweets though….Smit getting absolutely burned 😆
EP Kings having a yard sale? we seem to be buying a lot of their used goods lately? Would be noce if the sharks could have a few exhibition matches before end of year or at least in Jan. Whats happening on that score?
I hope the coaches are all taking notes too. They will have to continue with the work after Mooar’s two week stint.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 26) : Looks like Smittie had the last laugh. According to today’s papers, the Toulon boss has agreed to a friendly in February.