Jake White has revealed the Sharks’ prime motivation for wanting to knock over the Brumbies in Saturday night’s Super Rugby top-of-the-table clash in Canberra.
And it has nothing to do with his much-hyped return to the national capital seven months after leaving the Brumbies halfway through his four-year coaching contract.
“This game was always going to be a massive game. From the day I signed with the Sharks, this was going to be the game for them – and it’s not because I’m coaching the Sharks,” White said on Thursday.
“The Brumbies hammered the Sharks last year. They (the Sharks) were booed in their stadium after 30 minutes by their crowd because they conceded four tries in 30 minutes.”
The Sharks were unbeaten in four games and leading the competition when White’s Brumbies ambushed them in Durban in 2013.
“The Brumbies had travelled all the way from Australia; it was a no brainer the Sharks were going to win comfortably and they ended up getting pumped,” White said.
Nevertheless, White understands why his return to Canberra is attracting all the attention and says that’s why he chose to base the Sharks in Sydney instead of Canberra for most of the week leading up to the game.
After dramatically transforming the Brumbies from cellar-dwellers in 2012 to runners-up last year, White accepts he may encounter some resentment from the Canberra faithful for walking out on the franchise.
But he’s not fussed.
“If there is hostility, that’s because I’m sure people would be a little disappointed that I didn’t stay and that’s not a bad thing,” he said.
“Not many coaches in the world get hostility shown at them by the fact that they left.
“Coaches, it’s a tough gig and most times you leave when you don’t want to and when you do leave when it’s suits you, it’s not wrong. Sometimes it’s better.”
The former World Cup-winning Springboks coach says he’s proud to see the Brumbies kicking on after cutting short his tenure.
“There’s no doubt when they’re on song, they can beat anybody,” he said.
“People must never underestimate the fact that when I sit at home in South Africa and I watch the evolvement of the Brumbies and I watch them winning, let’s rewind three years ago; they were a disaster.
“The reality is that the club was in a good space (when I left).
“I was fully aware that the assistants (Stephen Larkham and Laurie Fisher) were good enough to continue and I was fully aware that the player roster was settled.
“It wasn’t just a light decision about moving on.”
Brumbies playmaker Matt Toomua admitted White’s return to Canberra was impossible to ignore.
“It’s the elephant in the room that he turned us around and now he’s coaching another team that is the only other team ahead of us,” Toomua said.
“So we’ve obviously spoken about it.
“But at the end of the day our focus is on the fact that we had a big loss (to the Crusaders) on the weekend and we need to have a big win this weekend.”
In the only change to the Brumbies’ starting side that lost 40-20 in Christchurch, back-row enforcer Fotu Auelua will make his first appearance of the season after overcoming a knee injury suffered in the trials.
