Pienaar and Plum ice the Sharks' cake
Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:38
The Sharks' top-table feat was crowned on Tuesday with scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar and head coach John Plumtree landing September's respective Currie Cup Player and the Coach of the Month awards.
Springbok ace Pienaar - back starting in his favoured No.9 jersey - was the unanimous choice of the eight Currie Cup coaches around the country as September's Currie Cup Player of the Month, after an outstanding month directing traffic at the base of the table-topping Sharks scrum.
Plumtree, meanwhile, was a popular choice as the season's third Currie Cup Coach of the Month after guiding the Sharks to successive wins over the Blue Bulls, the Free State Cheetahs, the Falcons and the Lions during September.
Pienaar and Plumtree were each rewarded with R10,000 (US$1,200) in prize money, whilst they were also presented with exclusive miniature replicas of the Currie Cup trophy.
The Coach of the Month is voted for by a five-man panel of top media personalities in South Africa, whilst all eight coaches in the Currie Cup were once again asked to nominate their Player of the Month for September - as they did in July and August and as they will be asked to do until the end of the Currie Cup season in October.
The coaches were asked to nominate additional players this month, with Jean Deysel (August's Player of the Month), Keegan Daniel, Cobus Grobbelaar, Jongi Nokwe and Gurthrö Steenkamp all being mentioned as form players. However, in the final analysis, Pienaar picked up five votes overall, with Blue Bulls pair Morne Steyn and Wynand Olivier and towering Western Province (WP) lock Andries Bekker next best on the list of nominated players.
"It's a great honour to win this award," said Pienaar.
"But there were a host of other players in the country who could've won it, too, so I'm just very, very happy to have been recognised.
"On a personal level, I had a disappointing Super 14, so this award aside, I'm just glad to be out there playing 80 minutes every week and I'm loving every minute of it."
Pienaar, 24, also alluded to the "fantastic team spirit" in the Sharks squad.
"There is plenty of competition for starting places, but the guys are always willing each other on and I guess it's a nice headache for the coach too!" he added.
"Everyone has a smile on his face at training and that makes it a pleasure to train and then to run out there representing the Sharks come the weekend."
Sharks coach John Plumtree, meanwhile, is hoping to bring the Currie Cup trophy back to Durban for the first time since 1996. The Durbanites have played in four finals since that last triumph, but they have looked in fine form this season; winning 11 from 13 matches thus far and scoring 384 points in the process.
Sunday Times sports editor Clinton van den Berg - one of five members of the well-respected media voting panel - explained his rationale behind choosing Plumtree as his Coach of the Month.
"I was impressed by the way he worked his Springboks back into the provincial mould," explained Van den Berg.
"He did not rush his players back; he gave a couple of them a week off and then started them off the bench, gradually.
"He also made the call on Ruan Pienaar's position, playing him at No.9 where he belongs. Of course, going through the month unbeaten also helped his cause somewhat!"
Van den Berg's fellow panelists were once again David O'Sullivan (Rugga Zone host), SuperSport analyst and commentator Owen Nkumane, senior Rapport journalist JJ Harmse and Mtutuzeli Scott (SABC radio commentator).
Plumtree - who hails from New Zealand, but played for the then Natal Sharks as a hard-working flank - was understandably delighted with his award, but he was quick to doff his cap at his support staff at the Absa Stadium.
"It's a nice little surprise, this award, it's nice to be recognised," said Plumtree.
"(But) I'm simply taking credit for all the hard work put in by my fantastic management team and my players."
Looking ahead to the rest of the tournament, with the semifinals just around the corner, the 43-year-old Sharks boss added:
"I still think we can improve our defence, and there are constantly other aspects of our game to work on, but you need a pretty strong all-round game in order to win the Currie Cup.
"At this stage we can't look too far ahead, there's still plenty of rugby to be played and some pretty tough teams out there waiting for us."
