It wasn’t pretty, but the Sharks were grateful for the speed of Keegan Daniel, who scored a 74th-minute try to give them victory over the Lions in the Currie Cup clash in Durban last night.
Mike Green writes for the Sunday Times that it was a match that the tigerish Lions looked to have sewn up with a try by their No8, Willem Alberts, in the 64th minute, a score which took them to an 11-9 lead, but there was always a chance that someone like Daniel would add a little bit of magic that could turn a scrappy game into an unlikely win.
The first half was a dour affair as the teams were deadlocked at 6-6 at the break after Earl Rose and Ruan Pienaar — both playing out of position at flyhalf for their teams — had exchanged penalties in an error-strewn period.
The Lions should have been in control , with the Sharks having to make nearly twice as many tackles as the home team spewed out possession at an alarming rate at the breakdown — seven times in the first half alone .
Part of the problem seemed to lie with Springbok No8 Ryan Kankowski, who has looked a shadow of his brilliant Super 14 self since his concussion against Italy. Sharks’ coach John Plumtree responded by yanking him off at halftime and bringing on Daniel.
The Lions also had their usual suspects to thank for their superiority at the breakdown: captain Cobus Grobbelaar is always fiercely competitive on the ground and a player such as Alberts has surprising pace for someone who weighs 114kg.
Then there was Rose, who was full of imagination.
There were his little kicks past the defence, and would-be tacklers never seemed to be able to tell whether his pass would be short , long , or if he would skip around a player or two.
It was a pity, then, that the players out wide weren’t able to reward his imagination with some better handling.
The Sharks suffered similarly, with Pienaar’s imagination giving them some good ball on the front foot.
Scorers
Sharks: 16
Tries: Keegan Daniel.
Conversion: Ruan Peinaar.
Penalties: Pienaar (3).
Lions: 11
Try: Willem Alberts.
Penalties: Earl Rose (2).
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Is there a rule somewhere that says I HAVE to be happy about a win?
This headline sounds so dirty
@robdylan (Comment 2) :
Sounds better than the original one that included the word “rampant”.
neither team deserves the word rampant before their name after THAT match.
Boland are the only team who have scored less tries than us in the 2008 CC. 🙁
I wonder if Plum was smiling after that.
wolla was good, though. Very good
Wolla?
@robdylan (Comment 5) : What a sad performance…nothing to be happy about except that they saved the game and saved SHARKSWORLD from Hmmm. And maybe they should occasionally pass to ODWA…early.
@bryce_in_oz (Comment 6) : Jean the Machine Deysel
Ruan aint no flyhalf and Stefan is not a rugby player
Getting a bit sick of playing like palooka’s yet still winning…
@bryce_in_oz (Comment 10) : It actually doesn’t feel appreciably better than losing, does it?
@robdylan (Comment 11) :
All I want to see is some of those 15 man Shark’s multi-phase tries of yesteryear…
@bryce_in_oz (Comment 12) :
Almost a distant memory now…
Gee – I don’t know what’s wrong with the Sharks. Our Lineouts are terrible and there is no driving up the ball. Backline cannot get over advantage. Sure we are missing Bizzy,Bj, Brad,Frans, AD, JP, but even with those players — there is just no spark.
With our team, I was expecting a 25 point thrashing — but we wimper home with a narrow win. The only thing worse could have been a loss, and it nearly was —- BUT was’nt.
So pull your socks up and win the next 3 away games — pressure is on.
WPW — Brilliant comment No6. 😳
@blackshark (Comment 7) :
😆 😆 😆
I feel bad for the Lions – you can see that they really are trying. You cant blame the coaches or the commitment, but they just dont have the players. I just hope that they can retain their current guys and build on what they have.
As for us, the setpieces were very poor, but were still the best part of our game – the backline was absolutely directionless!
Scott Mathie… How does he keep getting selected? Stefan is soooo past it too.
Only highlight, like ROb said, was another bruising and dynamic performance by the Deysel engine.
@bryce_in_oz (Comment 12) :
I will ALWAYS remember the match when the Sharks played against teichmann’s Club from the UK. The event was sponsored by Captain Morgan with teich wearing the catain morgan on his shirt.
Anyway in the last 10min they brought on the old gaurd, Thompson, Honiball, Putt etc and they ran in 3 tries in the last 7-10min.
THAT was an aweson match to be at. 😎
Seems we are going to have to remember those days as these days are not so cool.
Those were the days my friend…
Yet another bad day at the office, especially for Mathie, Terblanche and Waylon M!!!!!!!!! I think they should try to convert Waylon from 13 to 2, he has definitely got the pace to play hooker, and at least Burden can break the line and think on his feet. How can Plum not see that Scott Mat should be demoted to club rugby and that you can not keep on playing without a Backline coach 😳 , on sharksrugby.co.za they say that we have got a Backline coach but they are still to make a Believer out of me ❗ ❗
@wpw (Comment 9) : I have to disagree, Ruan was excellent with the shi’ite ball he got from mathie. scott was shocking and put the backline under pressure. stefan i have to agree with you there. he is 1 dimensional. everytime he got the ball he kicked it. he just gave away possession. but as stefan was the lions man of the match, earl rose was ours. he lost the game for the lions. as for jacques botes, what a friggin machine. he looks good on tv he looks frigging amazing at the game. television doesn’t do that guy justice. he was everywhere. he is like a magician just when you think he is at the bottom of a ruck he is rummaging in a new one. the sharks need 15 guys with his cahoonas. jannie is playing average rugby and needs a reality check. sykes should have started. albert was good but he is better as a super sub.
Imnot happy with Plum as coach. Like Pdv who took over a settled SA side from JW, he also hadthe names and depth on paper-yet, 2007 CC was nothing to remember, nether has this yr so far. The recruiting department and Mr Srauli needs to get into action. Stefan needs to find something else to keep himself busy with, and certain individuals are only going through the stages, if at all.
Nevermind a final, we gonna struggle to make a semi this year.
@MrG (Comment 21) : mrg, if the sharks standards had dropped during cc i would agree with you, but this is the same shi’ite we saw in the s14. i gave muir grief, but i am wondering if the players are just not pulling finger. the players have no team spirit. they all run around like headless chickens. i still wonder if we have the right captain.
@try time (Comment 20) :
On Jacques Botes – seeing him live is something else – you get to see just how much work he gets through, and also how hard he throws himself into the rucks – tv definitely doesn’t do him justice.
@Big Fish (Comment 24) : fish, he is amazing. the whole game you saw this red head gear coming from all directions to assist his team mates. there are a lot of players that need to learn at least ten percent of that teamwork and we will see a huge improvement in our performance.
@MrG (Comment 21) :
I would hardly say the Sharks have the names or depth on paper.
let’s face it we had more than a dozen players away for the RWC last year and we have a lot with the boks again this year.
I don’t care who your coach is but the fact remains that the teams which lose less players to the Boks are the ones who do well in the CC.
Last year it was the Lions and the Cheetahs, this year is the Cheetahs and the Bulls
@MrG (Comment 22) : @try time (Comment 25) : I have been saying this since S14, Bashford is the problem here. Our backs lack direction and have last any ball skills they simply cannot catch or retain a ball, and have been so this whole season! @wpw (Comment 9) : Ruan I felt had a good game, and Wpw you are judging him too harshly, lets not forget that for these last two months he has been dragged halfway around the world to sit on a bench and got what 3 minutes game time? and then not even at flyhalf!
Two players that need to be replaced in my opinion Waylon Murray and then Scott Mathie. How Mathie continues to be selected over Charl leaves me wondering. Is it any wonder that the Sharks started looking better once Charl came on, and that has been with all the matches so far! As to Waylon he has had his chance, let Riaan have his now!
@try time (Comment 25) :
For sure, he never lacks for effort. Only problem for me is when he is used as a ball-carrier in the tight – it doesnt suit him. He has tremendous speed and is best in space.
With all due respect to him, he always has a slightly concussed look on the field, but having watched him play; I’m really not surprised. Watching him in the S14 Final last year, you almost felt the impact every time he hurled himself into a ruck with absolutely no regard for his own well-being. I remember wincing each time he did it.
@Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 27) :
Sean Everett is with the Sharks. Right?
In What capacity? He was one of the better centers to not have played for Natal becasue of being at the top of his game at the wrong time.
Surely he can sort out the backline or lack of backline, for that matter?
Our backline has had a number of problems and you cannot simply blame the coaching staff for everything (aside from selections).
1. Stefan is not doing anything creative on attack or bringing the wings into play.
2. Bok losses – Steyn, Ndungane, Pienaar, JP are all good players, we’re missing them.
3. Injuries – we’ve had too many injury problems to enjoy a settled side – Michalak, Kockott, Barritt are vital to our cause.
4. Scrumhalf has been one of our biggest problems. Kockott is like a bull/fox terrier and his tenacity and heart are massive for us. Losing him means losing a goal-kicker as well as a player of great ability. Mathie has been poor and McLeod hasn’t been given the opportunities he deserves. The backline gets no quality quick ball through our forward lack of dominance and Mathie’s slow delivery, hence there is no space to attack, nor momentum on attack.
It’s simplistic to just blame the coaching staff. Look at the player personnel as well.
@hellbent (Comment 30) : i would have to agree with you there – another problem with the backline is our running lines… and the guys receive the ball standing still, and even if they receive it running, the pass is bad… waylon is playing like Wynand olivier on a bad day, running cross field and not passing. do we have any centres that can run strait? like adi does? mathie out, mcloed in
Anonther thing that bothered me is the line outs. i feel that its not the jumpers thats at fault here, but mister Skipper. 3 critical line outs on our goal line he missed the jumpers!
the last thing that is a real problem… a few months/years back, when our backline had a linebreak, u had the feeling that we are going to score. we had speed and skills to do that. saterday, we had a few linebreaks, but aither our guys are to slow, or he hasnt got any support. am i over-critical here?
@KSA Shark © (Comment 29) : Good players don’t always make good coaches, look at Straulie, Putt etc.
morning guys. Jet lag sucks!
I am busy adding this match to the Player Ratings. Will have the Fantasy League updates done in an hour or so.
Thanks for your patience
@Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 32) :
agreed.
Since I became an active Sharks supporter…we’ve had some ups and DOWNS but my morale has never been this low. Walking out of the Shark-Tank with a win under our belt but only getting 1% satisfaction from it is the strangest feeling ever.
Credit to the forwards…the Lions came with a strong pack so they did ok to stand their ground at times. The backs had no vision…took yonks to spread the ball even when we had a man over. I don’t know if Waylon’s bandage doubled as a blindfold because he couldn’t spot a gap with neon lights flashing. How long does it take for these guys to assess the situation, make the right decision and then execute? Real professionals do all that in a split second.
Gees…I wanted to swap them for some of the skillful kids at halftime. Not impressed . 👿