The other big match of the day.
Will the Sharks beat the Lions to secure a home semifinal for the second year running?
Or will the Joburg side prove that they’re not yet out of this year’s competition and record the win that they need to keep their slim play-off hopes alive?
Kick-off in Durban is at 17h05
The Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche (captain), 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Juan Hernandez, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Keegan Daniel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Albert van den Berg, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Skipper Badenhorst, 17 Patric Cilliers, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Michael Rhodes, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Monty Dumond, 22 Adrian Jacobs.
Golden Lions: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Michael Killian, 13 Jannie Boshoff, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 Johan Jackson, 10 Herkie Kruger, 9 Chris Jonck, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Derick Minnie, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (captain), 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Nico Luus, 3 Kevin Buys, 2 Hans van Dyk, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Torrie Meyer, 17 Wayne Swart, 18 Willem Stoltz, 19 Todd Clever, 20 Ruan Boshoff, 21 Walter Venter, 22 Pieter Engelbrecht.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Ben Crouse, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Johann Meuwesen
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If we get a 5 pointer it’ll be a Sharks-Bulls final. 😎
Go Sharks!!!
@klempie (Comment 1) : who would you rather play in a final? WP or Bulls?
@war1 (Comment 3) : Province obviously… 😛
@war1 (Comment 3) : I just said that to piss off the wpw, PJLD et al
Right. Here we go. 😎
Rosw stuffs up within 30 seconds. 😆
@klempie (Comment 4) : we can take them, and the bulls as well
Ruan up for his first kick. Nice easy one.
Sharks 3 – 0 Lions
lions seem to be conceding lots of penalties
Nother easy one for Ru for a Lion playing ball on ground.
Sharks 6 – 0 Lions
Bis goes off his feet and Herkie puts it over.
Sharks 6 – 3 Lions
KAAAAAAK running defensive lines by the Sharks let a try through. Conversion missed.
Sharks 6 – 8 Lions
Kruger up for a kick just inside Sharks territory.
Just short.
End to end stuff right now. Both Lions AND Sharks have opportunities to score but duff it up.
Sharks gets a scrum right in front of the posts 5m out.
They go right but Ru has a HOWLER and skip passes into touch. 🙄
Lions are defending REALLY well. 😯
Not looking like we’re wanting 4 tries today… 🙄
Ruan knocks the ball on taking it out of the ruck. 🙄
lekker bissie!!
Lions after having been warned for negative play in the red zone finally get carded.
Sharks pick the lineout and the Sharks MAUL Bis over for the try!!
Ru puts it over but the Lions got a penalty just before the break.
HT Sharks 16 – 11 Lions
Sharks have 68% possession and 71% territory. We should have more to show for it. Hopefully the floodgates open now.
this ain’t as good as it should be…
@robdylan (Comment 22) : Innit
Kruger penalty.
Sharks 16 – 14 Lions
Rose duffs up again.
Kruger’s right eye has swollen shut. 😯
How the HELL are the Lions keeping us out? 😯
Come on Sharks…
It’s been awful…very disjointed!
Penalty for not rolling away. Jonck puts it over.
Sharks 16 – 17 Lions 😯
65 mins. This is a complete ballsup.
Looks like it is choking time for the Tjarks. Play with some respect guy it is only the Lions.
Go Lions! 😈 😉
K penalty Tjarks.
Quite a tricky one for Ru. 30m out and 15 from the left touch line.
Straight through!!
WP top of the log. 😎
at least it’s a win but there goes the home final!
FT 19-17
Hmmmm. Sharks-Bulls semi-final. Not good. 👿
@klempie (Comment 37) : Having said that, maybe the Lions can pull out a similar performance against Prooooooviiiiiiiiiince next week and deny them 4 tries.
@war1 (Comment 36) : @klempie (Comment 37) : A 5 pointer against the kwasse plus WP not getting a bonus point or god forbid a win against the Lions and you’re back on top.
Close for the Sharks. It might just be a Bulls / Sharks semi and a VRYSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT / WP semi.
look, if province miss out on the bp against the lions next weekend and the sharks take 5 points in kimberley, then all is well again
@McLovin (Comment 39) : See 38. 😉
hope the lions can put in another good performance in next weekend, remeber how they denied the stormers a super 14 semi last year, go lions!!
How can your log position be decided by points difference and not by the amount of matches you’ve won?????????? 😯
@mbayshark (Comment 44) : Quality vs quantity? If you win with a bonus,instead of a “win” like today, points diff would not be an issue 🙄
Let’s hope we’re peaking in time and Wee Pee are on the downward slope. However I’d LOVE to meet them in the final…and give them a klap!! 😛
@Villie (Comment 46) : Alas, not with the type of rugby dished up by the cho.., Sharks today. Remeber WP does have 23 CC in the cabinet opposed to 4 for the Sharks on the trophy-shelf. 😀
if we play like we did today, it’s not going to matter where the final is. We won’t be in it
@diablo (Comment 47) : 5, dude 🙂 90, 92, 95, 96 and 08
😳 5, 8,9 vs 23? No contest yet
@diablo (Comment 50) : When was the last one? So long ago….we’ve all forgotten!!
@robdylan (Comment 48) : The problem is we still don’t know who our best side is. Biggest problem area is centre….Strauss and Waylon didn’t work well today. Then we desperately need Wolla in the side, for the balance of the loose trio!
@diablo (Comment 47) : 32 Currie Cups thank you very much.
@Villie (Comment 52) : strauss is useless. Only looks good against the Leopards
@robdylan (Comment 54) : he is. And I agree with you that on sth like that The sharks can forget about CC.
this whole game was such a disappointment.
what did you guys think of JMH?
@rekinek (Comment 55) : too much kicking, and not all of it good. He didn’t do enough to test the defence.
@robdylan (Comment 56) : actually this lions try (according to commentators) was straight through flyhalf channel.
I thought maybe it’s just me but I did not like the way he played. had good touches but mostly wasted possession. I’d rather told ruan to take care of kicking.
@rekinek (Comment 57) : Strauss was the one who let le Grange straight through for that try, although Bismarck’s throw at the lineout was truly woeful too.
@robdylan (Comment 58) : strauss again 🙄 and he slaughtered this try opportunity – ehh
i thought that plum would have left murray on and it would have been strauss whomn adi replaced. we are missing fransie already.
@rekinek (Comment 59) : no we’re not… Plum just needs to use his head more. Any fool could see that we needed better distribution skills at 12. Why he replaced Murray is beyond me
@robdylan (Comment 58) :
I haven’t seen much Rugby this season but heard someone somewhere say that Strauss has really come good this season.
After seeing his form yesterday I can only ask. WTF? 😯
He should NOT have a sniff in at the S14 squad if he plays like THAT.
Go Lions vs WP next week!!!!!!!!
@robdylan (Comment 60) : me thinks – we are missing him.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 61) : he had few solid outings this year – he was MOM last week (but only because scored 2 tries – methinks). but he is not exactly very creative.