The following are the team ratings as I saw them at the tank. Please feel free to agree or disagree.
15. Louis Ludik – 4
Was solid in the back, his handling was second best of the backline players and kicked well.
14. JP Pieterson – 3
Expected this type of performance in his first game back, not after his game against the Bulls. Ran well at the defence but lost the ball in contact more than a few times.
13. Stefan Terblanche – 3
Got his hands on the ball a lot and got involved. A lot of handling errors from him in his 100th game in Currie Cup Rugby.
12. Pat Lambie – 4
Was under a hell of a lot of pressure from the rush defence. Didn’t get the same ball as he did from Steve against the Bulls. Good tackle count without missing any.
11. Lwazi Mvovo – 3
Didn’t get involved, had a few chances but snuffed it out wide. Not a great way to try keep your place over Odwa.
10. Monty Dumond – 2
Missed a tackle or two, didn’t spark the lineout as he should have. He did kick well though, but Steve looked so much better when he came on.
9. Charl McLeod – 4
Scored a good try, looked lively like he always does. Missed a few too many tackles and let us down with his handling. Best backline player on the night.
8. Keegan Daniel – 7
Scored three much needed and deserved tries. Carried the ball fantastically well.
Looked good on both defence and attack. Good game for the third game in a row. Best player on the park for the Sharks.
7. Michael Rhodes – 4
On the park during the Sharks worst 20 minutes. Did not make any errors, but did not look his usual active self.
6. Jacques Botes – 5
Really got his hands dirty at ruck and maul time, and did a great job. He is having a really good season so far.
5. Alistair Hargreaves – 3
Was poor with ball in hand, and the lineouts really didn’t work on the night. His handling really let him down. Was showed up by Skeate.
4. Steven Sykes – 4
Got more involved at the breakdown than Ali and was busier. His handling also let him down a bit.
3. Wiehahn Herbst – 4
Busiest of the front rowers at the breakdown, worked hard all night. Was a brick wall on defence.
2. Craig Burden – 4
Another busy night, another night of running from the hooker. Broke the line a few times. His lineout throwing let him down a bit.
1. Pat Cilliers – 5
Really got involved at the breakdown, was a machine on defence (can this boy tackle!!), and carried the ball like a centre should when he got to run a bit.
16. Kyle Cooper – 4
Wasn’t on long for very long, but he makes a hell of an impact when he does come on.
17. Eugene van Staden – 0
Wasn’t on long enough to rate.
18. Ross Skeate – 5
Looked lively, broke the line with a great run and offloaded well. Hope he gets a start soon.
19. Willem Alberts – 5
Good game back from injury. Played 60 minutes and looked fit and ready. He did drop a few balls though.
20. Rory Kockott – 0
Wasn’t on long enough to rate.
21. Steve Meyer – 4
Looked his attacking self, wanted to play the line. Good 20 minutes of play. He has to be the starting flyhalf.
22. Andries Strauss – 3
Looked lively and even broke the line once or twice. He really did make a difference when he came onto the park.
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Rhodes had gippo guts… wonder if that was the result of yet another night on the tiles? I certainly hope not.
you’re not being very generous with your ratings are you?
Hope they pull their fingers out of their asses this week,one of these ego trips are gonna cost us a home semi or final!
War, sounds like it was as woefully sub-standard performance from the team as a whole. I reckon Rich docked everyone a few points based on that. So hard to comment without seeing the game, although I’d feel hard done by if I scored 3 tries and only got a 7
I would have thought Keegs would get an 8 or 9 after he basically single-handedly won the game for the Sharks!!
If keegan wasn’t there I would have thought the ratings are out of 5
@war1 (Comment 2) : They didn’t play very well, so at least I didn’t give the entire team 1..
@robdylan (Comment 4) : I didn’t give the oke a 8 or 9 as he missed a few tackles and dropped a few balls.. Okay he scored 3 tries and won the match, but none of the tries were moments of his own, they were team tries.
i am glad the game was not on T.V.
I think you’re right, Rich. None of the forwards deserve high scores based on the number of turnovers conceded
@robdylan (Comment 10) : I watched the game and I also took into consideration the stats on ruggastats, and I didnt want to give scores based on the win, but rather on the performance.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 8) : Harsh, but fair… you’d make the perfect Tri-Nations citing commissioner
@CS (Comment 12) : Thanx
This would have been my ratings:
Ludik 5 – He missed an important tackle, but aside from that he had a solid game.
JP 6 – Looked for work, got us over the advantage line, dropped a couple of passes, but he looked good and returning to form.
Stefan 6 – didn’t see the handling errors and thought his decision making was good.
Lambie 4 – His flyhalf didn’t give him much chance, but still had no effect on the game and looked a little lost out there, this week he looked like he played in the position the first time.
Mvovo 4 – with some room he looked dangerous, dropped to many passes, and found himself out of position a few times. He’s running lines and linking up in midfield has to improve.
Dumond 3 – He’s kicking out of hand was top standard, but it didn’t always come at the right time, didn’t pass enough and when he did he put players around him under pressure. Passes were to deep and to wrong players at wrong times.
McLeod 7 – I have to disagree with his handling errors stats, I can’t remember him dropping the ball once. His service was quick and had a big contribution in the go forward that Burden and Keegan got, scored an opportunistic try to spark somewhat of a Sharks comeback.
Keegan 7 – He would have gotten 8, I felt he hung on to the ball a few to many times. Lost the ball in the offload, because he isolated himself on occasion. To individualistic. But at least good as an individual player.
Rhodes(20min)/Alberts 7 – Got us over the advantage line right away, made a few good offloads to put players into space, good to have him back.
Botes 6 – You don’t see him that much, but again he had a solid game and the stats reveals his work rate.
Hargreaves 4 – The line-outs was messy, at times played to loose, very quiet game.
Sykes 5 – Did a decent job of carrying the ball, he was busy around the rucks.
Herbst 5 – Made a couple of big tackles, produced good scrums, would like to see him carry the ball more and more work around the ruck.
Burden 8 – Could have given him 9, but the line-outs was not always good, always got over the advantage line, made 2 or three clean breaks, enjoy’s the quick ball McLeod produces and puts himself in the right place. (would like to see him contesting at more rucks, but in a game where our backs couldn’t break the line he produced a few excellent breaks.)
Cilliers 6 – Good carrying of the ball, strong tackles, good srumming, solid game, good too see him fit.
Skeate 6 – Got more involved than both our starting locks, carried the ball nicely, with a good sense of the offload, good work rate at the rucks.
Strauss 6 – His passing let him down once and cost us a try, but made a few strong runs.
Meyer 6 – Looks to put players around him into space, also seems to create space with his runs instead of putting players outside him under pressure. Look forward to seeing him, play a full game again.
I’m a little more generous than you Ferguson, but that still gives you an average rating of 5, so I think it’s fair.
@Letgo (Comment 14) : Sometimes you have to be tough to be kind..
I agree with your ratings, but better ratings gie the impression that the team had a good game.
Jeepers Richard F, I am glad you didn’t mark my matric finals paper all those years ago.
Based on the stats, I must say Letgo’s ratings seem more in line with what I expected.
A scrappy game and poor team performance can obscure crucial things like ruck attendance, line breaks and carries over the advantage line.
@robdylan (Comment 10) : Many of the turnovers can be accounted to passes going astray, players isolating themselves instead of looking for support, and playing a very loose game. I don’t think you can put all the blame on the forwards for that. Although I would have liked to see, especially, Herbst and Hargreaves upping their work rate a little more, especially since they weren’t really making any contribution as far as ball carries are concerned.
Burden and Keegan was almost never at any of the rucks and that’s unacceptable, but when players are playing like that on attack, maybe the rest of forwards should up their work rate around the rucks.
Interesting comment from Plum on the other thread: “Our lineouts didn’t function at all, it was a bit windy, but we have a new hooker and his skill level let him down.”
I wouldn’t have thought of Burden as a “new” hooker???
@Big Fish (Comment 17) : Fair is fair big fish..
As i said, I didnt want to seem too generous.
@CS (Comment 19) : I agree with you. He has been in the position for a while now.. hasnt it been like 3 years almost now?
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 21) : Yip, if he thinks of Burden as “new”, no wonder he doesn’t want to play the green-horns coming out of the Academy… imagine what he thinks of them!
@CS (Comment 22) : I agree with you.. mybe Plum doesn’t realise how long he has been with the Sharks now.. (it is now his second term)
@CS (Comment 19) : Could I just say, there has been a lot of comments made about the line-outs, but it wasn’t that bad at all. We lost four or five line-outs out of about 25. It’s not a great stat, but the other 20 wasn’t specifically scrappy. It seems like a few went horribly wrong, but overall I thought the line-outs was pretty good. Nothing we can’t fix this week…Also I don’t think it was down to just Burden’s throwing, it seemed more like a communication breakdown, combined with the throw, the lift and maybe even the wind(a little).
Do you agree, Rich?
@Letgo (Comment 24) : Absolutely..
I was surprised when Plum specifically mentioned the lineout as being bad, I did see once that the jumper didnt even jump for the ball, and yes a few went it scew as a result of the wind, but I would not have even mentioned the lineouts..
It was more our lack of players at the breakdown and being counter shoved and losing the ball, as well as the handling that really let us down.
@robdylan (Comment 10) : In the Stats article you made a comment about Lambie going into the rucks way to much, and that the loosies should be doing that. The only reason Lambie was at so many rucks was because Dumond took the ball to contact that much. I think, mostly, when a flyhalf takes the tackle, the 12 has the responsibility of cleaning that ruck, since he would be the next player to arrive at the tackle.
This means that not only was Dumond in the tackle, but Lambie was stuck in the ruck, so Burden and Keegan ended up being first receiver, which is not bad, but if you want to spread the ball wide, you need your 10 or 12 to be in position.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 25) : Agreed.
@Letgo (Comment 26) : I saw that comment made by Rob about Lambie at the breakdown, and I couldnt believe it.. but what you say makes sense! He had to be the first guy there to secure another phase.
I did see that Lambie was the only back not to drop a ball.. good stat for him..
I agree completely with the ratings, a shocking performance and the players deserve what they got… My only exception, Skeate – looked class when he came on.
Cheetahs will destroy us if we play like this…
Sheesh!! I am glad you are not rating me!
Hate to see your ratings if they lose without a bonus point …. 
@Ice (Comment 30) : you’ve been scarce
@robdylan (Comment 31) : Not really…Senora Hielo is just back from Spain! LOL just a. Bit occupied at work and with the new baby!
@Ice (Comment 32) : is this a real baby, or another pet?
@robdylan (Comment 33) :to me he is a real baby! To others, I don’t know! LOL
He’s name is Daniel, named after you know who! But mommy calls him Danny-Boy!
If it was a real one, I think D would divorce me!! LOL
@Ice (Comment 34) :
Hey Ice!! Good to see you’re back!!
So which player in the Spanish team is your favourite??
TORRES TORRES TORRES!!
@wpw (Comment 35) : NO!! David Villa is the man!!!