Sharks crisis could be happy accident

Watching AB de Villiers keeping wicket for the Proteas in the second Test against India reminded me of the dilemma facing the Sharks as they seek a solution to their flyhalf crisis.

Before this season started, the Sharks appeared quite adamant that Ruan Pienaar was going to play most of his rugby in his preferred, specialist position of scrumhalf. Last year Sharks coach John Plumtree invoked the ire of the Springbok coach for playing Pienaar at No9 and insisting that he wanted him to play in the position he was most comfortable.

That was after Pienaar had arrived back from the Tri-Nations with his confidence, by all accounts, completely destroyed. To refresh memories, Pienaar start the series against the British and Irish Lions as the incumbent Bok flyhalf.

This was after he had been installed into the No10 jersey for the 2008 end of year tour. It was known at the time that Pienaar was not crazy about the idea of playing flyhalf, but he switched positions when asked to by the coach, and he enjoyed a successful tour.

His opening Test against the Lions produced the sort of rugby from Pienaar that showed why Eddie Jones, when he was working as the Springbok technical adviser, spoke about him as the Bok future at flyhalf.

But those who know Pienaar’s play well pointed out that he was a confidence player, and that it might have gone differently had he not been on the mark with his early goalkicks and had not been playing behind what at that stage was a dominant pack.

There are many goalkickers whose confidence in their allround game is impacted on by how they go in kicking for poles, and it effects Pienaar more than most.

The following week, in the second Test at Loftus, the doomsayers were vindicated when Pienaar missed some early kicks, and until he was replaced late in the game by Morne Steyn, who won the match and the series for the Boks with a stupendous long-range penalty, Pienaar was erratic in all aspects of the game.

He was dropped for the final Test, but then returned for the first Test of the Tri-Nations, against New Zealand in Bloemfontein. It was like the Pretoria match all over again, with Pienaar not able to land his attempts at goal, and this kept the Kiwis in the game on a day where they were comprehensively outplayed.

Where Pienaar’s confidence really took a knock was when he was shifted to fullback in place of his then Sharks teammate Frans Steyn. The latter had been one of the stars of the home leg of the Tri-Nations, and in their public pronouncements, the Bok management had said that they would be specialising with Pienaar at flyhalf, and not playing him anywhere else.

Pienaar’s confidence was so destroyed during the Bok defeat to Australia in Brisbane in the penultimate match that it is understood that he even approached Bok coach Peter de Villiers and asked to be dropped for the final game in Hamilton.

That is the background, and it is understandable that the Sharks, mindful of the damage that all this must have done to Pienaar’s confidence, would want to play him in the position he has never made any secret of preferring.

Last year it became increasingly apparent that Pienaar was becoming another Gaffie du Toit in that he was proving that he just couldn’t handle the pressure of playing flyhalf at the highest level.

However the retirement of Steve Meyer and the continued non-performances of Monty Dumond have surely left the Sharks with no choice but to ask Pienaar to do what the Proteas asked De Villiers to do in Kolkata.

The Proteas batsman has gone on record saying he doesn’t want the gloves, but cricket is a team sport, and in times of need a player just has to sacrifice personal preferences for the good of the unit.

Pienaar was a lot more polished when he played as a replacement in Durban against the Chiefs last week than Dumond was as a starter, and maybe the retirement of Meyer and the injury to Juan Hernandez might just prove a happy accident that, if it means Pienaar has an extended run at No10, could benefit both the Sharks and the Springboks.