A strong Sharks squad has been announced for the 2008 Vodacom Super 14, and fans of the coastal side have plenty to be positive about for the season ahead judging by the manpower assembled in Durban.
With “Paddy Power”, AKA Epi Taione, the Tongan International who can play at loose forward, centre or wing and who was nominated as one of the five IRB World Cup players of the tournament, still set to join the franchise from Japan, the squad has a fairly settled look about it.
There are no surprises (unless you haven’t been near an internet connection for the past 3 months or so) and everywhere that the Sharks have suffered loss, they more than make up for with a new signing, or experience gained over the past year.
Take the loss of John Smit – Sharks and Springbok Captains – for instance. His leadership will be missed, but in Bismarck du Plessis and even Craig Burden (retreaded centre/wing), the hooker position is more than covered.
Butch James has followed the pound, but the man brought in to cover him is Frederic Michalak who has played 50 Tests for France – no mean feat and a more than able replacement. He may not be the physically imposing flyhalf that James is, but he certainly brings huge creativity to the backline.
No Monty? What about Stefan Terblanche or Frans Steyn. OK, they may not have the temperament of Monty, but they certainly can do the business.
Add Ruan Pienaar, Waylon Murray, Ryan Kankowski and JP Pietersen and you have amongst the most explosive and dangerous players in the tournament, while the likes of Brad Barritt, Jacques Botes, Johann Muller and the ever-green Johan Ackermann who will finally retire in March, provide strength and stability.
On the injury front, the Sharks are not in any great trouble, with long term injuries to Deon Carstens and Pat Cilliers set to be a thing of the past in the next 3-4 weeks.
The Sharks front row acts like a loose-forward unit and can be depended on to get the team over the gain line. The scrum was exceptional last year and one should expect more of the same.
Finally, don’t discount the coaching ability of Dick Muir and John Plumtree. This pair have developed into a work-class partnership working off the strengths of each other and complimenting in their own way what the other brings to the team.
The Sharks are an enigma when one reads the various media predictions. Ladbrokes have the Sharks in 4th place at odds of 9 to 1, and the media can’t make up their mind if they admire the Sharks, or feel they have to grudgingly give them their due.
For this wannabe journo and Sharks fan, I firmly believe they can go all the way. Time will tell but I think odds of 9 to 1 deserve a little flutter!
Sharks 2008 Super 14 squad:
Johan Ackermann, Skipper Badenhorst, Bradley Barritt, Nikolai Blignaut, Jacques Botes, BJ Botha, Craig Burden, Deon Carstens, Patric Cilliers, Keegan Daniel, Jean Deysel, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Alistair Hargreaves, Robbie Harris, Adrian Jacobs Jody Jenneker, Ryan Kankowski, Rory Kockott, Kees Lensing, Scott Mathie, Dumisane Matyeshana, Charl McLeod, Henno Mentz, Frederic Michalak, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira , Johann Muller, Waylon Murray, Odwa Ndungane, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Francois Steyn, Andries Strauss, Steven Sykes, Johan Snyman, Epi Taione, Stefan Terblanche, Albert van den Berg, AJ Venter, Frank Wagenstroom.
Tweet
lovely stuff! Bring it on Sharks.
Thanks HB. Much appreciated.
Be afraid…very afraid… 👿
Rob, does WordPress automatically format my article? This is the first time I am doing it and I also noted TryTime’s article was also all stuffed up. Entire article appeared on the front page and not just a blurb, and the font was all screwed up. Are we doing somethng wrong? Or do we just leave it to automatically format it for us?
ok – check out the mail I just sent. Let me forward it to TT as well.
OK, got your email, thanks!
Who needs read receipts?
Go SHARKS!!!!! This is your year!!!
yeah baby! Nice pic, dude
hey hell bent you must credit the writer you borrowed the article from.
stir stir stir 😉
does anyone know is the 11th emoticon below a light bulb or a white bum mooning me?
💡
Depends on whether you live in Cape Town or not…
02.12.08 12:49:42 – try time Edit
Let me try to explain.
This emoticon – ❗ – represents the Bulls bums today.
This emoticon – 💡 – represents the Bulls bums after the weekend.
Verstaan?
Hi ppl.
[email protected]
This is how the Bulls eyes going to look like. 😯
Go STORMERS!
I feel SOOO gay 😐
I like you already reds… 😀
TryTime, took some of the info off the Sharks website for background info, but essentially it was my own work, so no credit needed. This is not a plagiarism site!
Well-written hell bent.
Thanks VCS – I’m a bit of a wannabe journalist, but as TryTime alludes in his article, even Joe Public fits in somewhere – the media are so varied in their predictions that anyone could get it right – without necessarily being a so-called expert!
1000 posts?
5 more to go, HB 🙂
crap – are you guys seriously going to insist on one of those?
Are we there yet?
Claytie – i think you just got it.
Lemme go do a database query to confirm. I will need to write some automated logic to check generate the report, which will take some time.
“”we can’t stop here this is bat country.”
Woohaa i am all that is right in the world!
You got it… need to get the logic right to prove it, though
select * from (SELECT *
FROM `wp_comments`
WHERE comment_approved = ‘1’
ORDER BY `wp_comments`.`comment_ID` asc limit 1000) as muffy order by comment_id desc limit 1
that’s for the wannabe mysql gurus out there…
“as muffy order” – a techie with a sense of humour…..
Cheers all!
Cheers fish… Go get your creative hat on, eh? The Lions fans (3 of them) are signing in tomorrow specially 😉
HB, damn MySql can’t cope with anonymous tables. It was the first name that popped into my head!