Plumtree proud of his Sharks

Top of the pile: The Sharks celebrate their win over Griquas that put them number one

Sharks coach John Plumtree admitted he was exceptionally pleased that his team had not only beaten Griquas well, but that they had shown consistently good form to finish the round-robin stages of the Currie Cup in first position on the standings.

"I'm proud of the boys for finishing top of the log after 19 weeks, it's a pretty good effort," Plumtree told the official Sharks website.

"We had lots of disruptions with injuries early on, so to arrive at the top is great. In a couple of competitions around the world, you'd get a prize for that."

He admitted that he was happy with the way the team had started against Griquas, showing great accuracy on attack and earning the bonus point early in the game.

"We played some fairly clinical rugby in the first 30 minutes and by then the game was over," he said.

"But it was always going to be hard to maintain that intensity after I made a few changes."

As a dress rehearsal for the semi-final, he admitted that the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

"I'm not sure if this was the perfect dress rehearsal for the semi, I will tell you next week," said the New Zealand-born coach.

"I thought Griquas might be a bit tougher than they were, they may well have had their big game against the Bulls the previous week. But we played so well that we blew them out of the water."

However, he warned that recent history can now be consigned to the record books and the new challenge facing the team is all about the semi-finals.

"Everything that's gone before us is now over," said Plumtree.

He confirmed the late change with captain Johann Muller initially named to start but playing off the bench due to strain in his side, but did give credit to John Smit who ended up playing a full 80 minutes despite playing in only his second game following his groin injury.

"It wasn't quite the plan to play him for the entire game, but it just worked out that way," said Plumtree.

"John was always going to struggle a bit in the second half having had little game time, but I thought he played particularly well which was good for us."

He did admit though that the Sharks could face a worrying few days as they follow closely the progress of Albert van den Berg who landed badly on his shoulder in scoring his try.

"Albert is a little bit of a concern for us and will have to see how he shapes up," said Plumtree.

"Hopefully it's just muscular because if he is out we will face a bit of a lock crisis with Alistair Hargreaves also out."

"We're OK otherwise. Bismarck [du Plessis] took a bit of a hit to his knee but it's been put in ice and he should be fine for Saturday."

Plumtree will be posed with a selection conundrum whether to start Smit or Du Plessis at hooker for the upcoming Currie Cup semi-final.

With Smit's return to the Durban union following a short stint with French Top 14 club Clermont, Du Plessis finds himself in a battle to hold onto the number two shirt he'd made his own during the Super 14.

The Sharks have made it clear that they intend to employ a rotation system which will ensure both players get game time.

If this is the case, then Du Plessis is in line to start against the Lions in Durban on Saturday, given that Smit was the run-on hooker against Griquas at the weekend.

But it won't be that simple a decision. Should Plumtree punt for the experience and leadership ability of Springbok captain, Smit, or the dynamic youngster being groomed as his successor at Test level?

From an ability perspective, it would be a sound argument that Du Plessis is superior in most key facets of hooker play, especially under the ELVs. He is a pacey and powerful ball carrier, a technically sound scrummager and line-out thrower and often fills the role of an extra loose forward at the breakdown points.

The old adage does, however, ring true for Smit - there is no substitute for experience.

His value was appreciated in his injury-enforced absence from the Tri-Nations, and while Smit compares favourably in most of those facets mentioned above, his leadership ability and experience in pressure matches could see him edge out Du Plessis in the final reckoning.