The Sharks have a new Currie Cup head coach in Mike Vowles, but the mandate remains exactly the same as when JP Pietersen held the reins — producing a fresh raft of talent for the United Rugby Championship (URC) squad.
To call Vowles “new” is a touch inaccurate, given he assisted Pietersen in previous Currie Cup campaigns before the latter was elevated to the senior URC coaching ticket. Vowles has also been heavily embedded in the Sharks’ age-group system since 2017.
The former Glenwood High School first-team coach worked alongside Sean Everitt when the Sharks Under-19s went unbeaten in 2018, and he has since steered homegrown teams to titles in both the Under-20 and Under-21 national competitions.
For South Africa’s high-flying URC franchises, the Currie Cup has unashamedly evolved into a feeder tournament. Vowles’ primary objective is to unearth rough diamonds in the junior structures whilst simultaneously resurrecting a few stalling senior careers.
“At the very front of it is player development, so we want to test younger guys to see whether they have the potential to climb, and climb fast, into the United Rugby Championship set-up,” Vowles explained. “The second part is to try and get the more experienced guys to find form so that they can fight for URC spots.
“Thirdly, it is to be competitive,” he added. “We want to instil the Sharks DNA in the players, bearing in mind how the franchise wants to play at URC level.”
In their last two Currie Cup campaigns, the Durbanites started slowly before growing incrementally to finish strongly, famously recovering to lift the coveted title in 2024.
“In recent years we hardly had any preparation time,” Vowles noted. “The URC and EPCR knockout competitions finished quite late, which meant limited prep time for the Currie Cup. We were inheriting the team with maybe a week or two to get them firing for the competition.
“This season we have managed to secure a four-week pre-season block with the guys. We have had a warm-up game and have a squad that is quite settled. We have not had a lot of player movement in and out, so I am hoping it translates into a better start.”
With Pietersen busy overseeing URC pre-season training with the frontline heavyweights, Vowles has enjoyed exclusive access to his training group.
“We have a 40-man squad comprising younger guys who have come through the age groups — they are 21, 22, 23 — plus senior guys currently out of the URC mix, and some club players and guys who featured in the Varsity Cup. It is a diverse group and one that is full of talent.”
The Sharks face a daunting start to their campaign with three successive away fixtures against the Pumas, Cheetahs, and Western Province, kicking off on Friday evening in Nelspruit.
“It is what you make of it. We see a tour as an opportunity to connect as a group,” the coach insisted. “It will be tough, but this is a good chance off the field for us to grow, especially within a new squad. We don’t know how good we can be just yet. We could surprise ourselves because we have so much talent. It is simply about making sure we are all on the same page.”
The Kings Park faithful will be well acquainted with established figures such as Siya Masuka, Kerron van Vuuren — who has returned to the shores of Durban following stints in the United States and France — Cam Dawson, Deon Slabbert, and Ross Braude.
A significant transfer coup for Vowles is the short-term capture of Junior Springbok fly-half Luan Giliomee, who will link up with the squad immediately after the World Rugby U20 Championship. Giliomee has signed a long-term deal with the Bulls but remains a Shark until the end of December.
“We will strive to win, and it would be fantastic on a team level, but from an organisational point of view, success will be measured by how many players transition through to the URC,” Vowles concluded.
