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United Rugby Championship

HOLLYWOODBETS SHARKS: John Plumtree – We had our chances in Stormers defeat

Coach John Plumtree lamented a number of missed opportunities in his Hollywoodbets Sharks side’s 20-24 URC defeat to the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.

Jaden Hendrikse of Sharks during the United Rugby Championship 2024/25 game between the Stormers and Sharks at Cape Town Stadium in South Africa on 28 December 2024

Coach John Plumtree lamented a number of missed opportunities in his Hollywoodbets Sharks side’s 20-24 URC defeat to the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

The Durbanites conceded a Jean-Luc du Plessis try in the dying embers of the contest as the hosts denied them what would have been a fifth-consecutive win in the URC. The result means the Sharks head into the new year remaining fifth, with the Capetonians occupying ninth.

“There are some big moments that we’ll look back on that we didn’t control well,” said Plumtree. “We should never concede a try like that with seven minutes to go with our forwards, but I think they were just run down.

“It was probably a big moment when Ethan Hooker got yellow-carded before halftime and then after halftime, we really didn’t get a lot of ball. Then the Stormers started offloading and playing with a little bit more freedom and I thought our defence was amazing in that period. Their willingness to work back and come forward, scramble tackle. I thought the boys were really brave in that space.”

“But we didn’t really get enough ball in the second half. We probably went past five phases once and we managed to score, it might have been twice,” Plumtree said.

“We opened the Stormers up a couple of times and we weren’t clinical enough. So we’ll look back at some of that stuff, but [at] 77 minutes, 20-17 up, we’ve got to hang on to win that game.

“We lacked a few leaders. We probably lost all our leaders in the end, they were off the field [injured].”

The Stormers trailed 5-10 at the break but touched down three times in the second half, including du Plessis’ match-clincher, to ultimately rally back and claim the win.

The sides are next in action in the Champions Cup on 11 January, with the Sharks hosting reigning European and French champions Toulouse in Durban and the Stormers tackling Sale Sharks on the west coast.

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