Give Muir a chance to build

The old cliché that one swallow does not make a summer is an odd one when applied to rugby, which is supposed to be a winter sport, but nonetheless it is often used. And it should be again to temper the euphoria that would have swept through Durban following the Sharks’ excellent win over the Brumbies.

Compared to what had gone before, this win was indeed something akin to manna from heaven. It must have brought a welcome respite to the switchboard at ABSA Stadium, which if precedent is anything to go on, might well have been snowed under by abusive callers during the first few weeks of the Super 12.

We know Kevin Putt took abuse, and so apparently did his wife and children. This ugliness is ridiculous, but it is something that people accepting the job of coach of a Super 12 or provincial team are just going to have to treat as something that comes with the territory.

What also comes with the territory is what Nick Mallett refers to as the purple prose that suddenly flows your way when you win. In an interview with Mallett earlier this year, he told me he wished that the rugby public and media could at some stage find some middle ground – “Either everything is all wrong, or everything is all right. I wish people could understand that the truth is usually somewhere in between. It is not always all wrong, and it is not usually all right.”

Mallett’s observation probably applies to the current attitude towards the Sharks. After hearing the Sharks cop so much criticism in previous weeks, it was alarming for me as I tucked into a particularly fiery peri-peri chicken in Rondebosch on Saturday night hearing punters referring to the beginning of a new era for Sharks rugby.

The assumption seemed to be that Dick Muir and Ian McIntosh, in his guise as Muir’s mentor, had suddenly found the correct mix and had unlocked the secret to a new run of Sharks success.

I would love to think this is true, but alas, it is unlikely. Muir and McIntosh did well in his short time in charge to calm the players and inspire them with some motivational words (it was also very lucky for them that I watched the game at Forrester’s Arms, a television set on which I have never seen the Sharks lose a game!), but it is stretching reality a bit to suggest that one captain’s practice in charge was enough for Muir to turn Sharks rugby around.

What probably happened, as was alluded to in my preview on Thursday, was that the players for once decided to play for the coach, something that almost inevitably happens immediately after the broom has swept the old guard away.

It is easy to imagine why this is so. Those players who were comfortable under Putt would have found themselves having to play out of their skins to impress the new man in charge, while those players who did not fancy Putt, which appears to be a substantial proportion of the squad, would have had equal reason to shake off the shackles and play for their new coach.

This rejuvenation of mind and body does not always last, however, and maybe those who are suddenly praising the Muir and McIntosh combination should keep in mind that the Sharks won four of the six games they played when Putt first took charge back in 2002. Putt also took charge in mid-season, and also from a coach (Rudolf Straeuli) who towards the end of his tenure had become less popular with the players than he was 12 months earlier.

I felt desperately sorry for Putt on Saturday night. The team that won against the Brumbies was in fact the one he had picked, and was by far the strongest one the Sharks have fielded this season. Instead of watching from the stands, as they had against the Highlanders, Brent Russell and Butch James were on the field.

And the hero for the Sharks was one of the so-called no-name brands that Putt had recruited. Judging from his performance against the Brumbies, Ruan Pienaar is going to prove to be one of the best buys the Sharks ever made. Given time, some of the other young players recruited in the off-season might also prove inspirational procurements.

But time is the most important word here. Before Saturday the one thing that bothered me about Muir’s appointment was that it appeared he had not been given sufficient time.

According to the statement issued by the Sharks, Muir’s appointment was to the end of the Super 12 season, after which the coaching situation would be re-assessed.

Good though the start to his tenure was, Muir is going to need more than the six remaining games in this Super 12 season to stamp his mark on the Sharks. It will only be when he has had a chance to recruit players and build his squad that Muir’s real abilities as a coach will start to come through.

Giving him the job for six games was similar to the situation that Ray Jennings found himself in when he first took over the Proteas. He has been given a limited time to get something right that might require years, not just a matter of a couple of games.

Muir, in the absence in this country of a proper national coaching structure, is as qualified as anyone to coach the Sharks in that he took two club teams to the national title while most of the coaches who boast experience higher up are currently out of employ because their most recent foray into coaching was considered a failure.

Muir is a fresh face who was regarded as one of the most astute rugby brains in the business when he was a player. He was clever enough to know though that there is a huge difference between playing at the top level and coaching at the top level, which was why after his stint as Cats assistant in the 2000 season he resolved to learn the trade at club level first.

He has now done that, with resounding success, and deserves a proper crack at a job that many felt he should have been front-runner for three years ago. It is only fair though that he be given more than a couple of weeks to set the Sharks on the right road.