Sean Everitt’s Sharks under 19 side take on the Blue Bulls in the semi-finals of the ABSA Under 19 competition, at Loftus in Pretoria today. Sharksworld caught up with star centre Piet Lindeque to get his thoughts on the game and the campaign so far.
Lindeque, who was born in the tiny roadside town of Winburg in the Free State, joined the Sharks at the beginning of the season after starring for Grey Kollege and the SA Schools side last year, at outside centre. Identified as a special talent by the Sharks coaching team, he was a surprise inclusion in the Sharks Invitational team that played the Valke in a pre-Currie Cup warm up game and has represented both the under 19 and under 21 sides this season. While many Sharks fans are pinning their future hopes on this 95kg outside centre, who runs a sub-11 second 100m, to provide a long-term solution to the problematic number 13 position in the senior side, for now, Lindeque and his team mates are fully focused on the job at hand with the under 19 side.
After a pretty slow start to the season, the side managed to turn things around well in the second half of the campaign. When asked what made made the difference, Lindeque tells us that “we struggled with injuries in the first round and didn’t have a lot of game time as a team – which is necessary to help you find your strengths. In the second round, the goal was to get to the semi’s and all working together towards the same goal made us stick together.” The team spirit and work ethic certainly had pulled the lads trough and they’ve gone unbeaten in the second round of games, beating all the other contenders in the process. We asked Lindeque how important that winning momentum would be going into a semifinal. “Knowing what works for us as a team going into the semi-final is a big asset. We know what we need to do to win, as well as which tactics work for us. That’s a huge positive and a helping hand.
“The fact that we beat the Bulls at Loftus earlier in the season is a big boost psychologically. We know we have done it and can do it again – maybe even using the same tactics! Defence is a big area that we need to get right against them and we’ve talked about that,” he continues. “We also need to ensure we get control over the game in the forwards – that’s an area in which the Bulls really don’t like to be dominated.”
While their under 21 counterparts are struggling a bit with injuries, the situation in the under 19s is quite different. “We have a full, strong team for the weekend and some of the guys who missed out last week due to injuries are now back in the starting line up. A guy like [Michaelhouse flyhalf] Reef Naikin is giving us good attacking ball and had taken his chances well.” The retention of Naikin at flyhalf means that ace goal-kicker Ryno Olivier, the competition’s fourth-highest points scorer, will be on the bench. Lindeque himself has taken over the goal-kicking duties and in addition to the 7 tries he has scored so far (3rd highest in the competition) has added 17 points with the boot in the last two games. An outside centre with size, pace and a goal-kicking boot? Could the rugby gods FINALLY be answering the Sharks prayers?
Since the upcoming semi-final will be, for many of the guys in the squad, the biggest game they have played in yet, we asked Piet what steps Sean EVeritt and the rest of the coaching squad had taken to look after the mental side of the team’s preparation. “We have spent pretty much the whole week staying in a hotel together,” Lindeque explains, “and staying as a team and being together has really lifted the spirit and made sure that we are totally focused and prepared.”
Sound good to me! Sharksworld would like to thank young Piet Lindeque for his time ahead of such an important game and are obviously a million percent behind the Shakrs youngsters as they take on Tshwane’s finest at Loftus this afternoon. Go get em, kids!
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on a role??? Bad form Rob 😆
ha ha…(Michaelhouse flyhalf).. i like that… Piet sounds like a real prospect
@Pokkel (Comment 1) : I KNEW that looked wrong!
Stress is getting to me today
@mikey (Comment 2) : I seldom make the same mistake twice!
How can you NOT get excited about a 95kg missile travelling fast enough to do 100m in 11 seconds? 😯
Good luck to our u19s. Lets hope for a repeat of the performance which resulted in their outstanding win against a strong Bulls team in Pretoria earlier in the season. And hopefully a final in Durban in a fortnight.
Obviously much is expected of Piet Lindeque and he has the pedigree to back it up but his inside centre partner Heimar Williams had a standout game against the Bulls (and some of his old mates) the last time out, while Piet played for the u21s.
I’m surprised at the inclusion of Reef. I think a key to success today will be keeping the Bulls kingpin scrummy Lohan Jacobs quiet and I’m concerned that strong running Jacobs will target Reef as a defensive weakness. But that said Reef probably offers something that Oliver and van Tonder don’t on attack. Also wonder if Goss got a shot at 10 this season and if not why not?
@beet (Comment 6) :
We behind you all the way Piet!
@beet (Comment 6) : nah, Kieran has only been played at wing and fullback. I think the problem was so many other good flyhalves in the squad (Naiken, van Tonder and Olivier)
It’s just really sad that none of these junior semi final games are being televised. 😥
Just call them butter.
(they’re on a roll. get it?) 🙄 😆
@beet (Comment 6) : that Jacobs is a good player. SO much better than that Schreuder bloke from Province who played ahead of him for the Baby Boks
Yeah I know. Goss done a good job playing “out of position”. It’s just that he was the Wynberg no.10 last year and whenever a kid makes the move from the competitive Western Cape region with it’s 2 great varsities to the Sharks Academy I always get the impression that there has to be a lot of money and talent involved.
Jacobs is a bit younger than Schreuder so I have no doubt he’ll be the 1st choice Baby Bok in 2011. We all look at Grey College as the rugby factory but Affies aren’t doing that badly either. Mind you I even think that our guy Kobus Reinach might even be a bit better than Schreuder as well, he just lacks the game time to prove it.
@beet (Comment 13) : as a former scrummie myself, i`m a HUGE fan of Reinach!!! where did he attend school?
The rugby factory in Bloemfontein aka Grey College.
@beet (Comment 15) : thought so, thanx
Funny talking about Piet Lindeque’s speed. Reinach is the son of the late Springbok and former SA 400m record holder (I think) Jaco who played against the NZ tourists / Cavaliers in about 1986. You can see that Kobus inherited a bit of his dad’s pace.
@beet (Comment 17) : yip, saw him play on tv and the other day at ellis park, geez, that boy has got talent, pace and vision.
@VanWilder. Fortunately Reinach has 1 more year of u21 eligibility left so we should be seeing a lot more of him next year.
A bit off the topic, but as a former no.9 what do you think of Charl Marais? He seems to be getting mixed reviews from non-Sharks supporters.
@beet (Comment 19) : beet, to reply to someones comment, you can just click on the block next to the posters name after each comment. (just a tip…) 😉
charl marais, should i know him?? ❓ 😕
when i saw fourie du Preez for the fisrt time at school, i knew he would become a springbok. thats how i feel about reinach.
@beet (Comment 19) : i guess your talking about charl mcloed? if indeed so, i`m a fan of him. i must admin, i cant see him playing for the springboks, but he gives us quick ball. to play scrummy (and flyhalf for that matter) you need a wide variety of skills. you need a strong pass, a good kicking game, vision on the field, has to clear the ball quickly, must have speed and the ability to break and be able to pop up everywhere. now if you look at Fourie du Preez, you can tick all of that boxes, but with Charl there is a fe left unticked. But i prefer him before Kockett. until Reinach is ready 😉
@VanWilder (Comment 20) :
@VanWilder (Comment 20) : Sorry vanWilder, my IT guy says that I have cutting edge technology but I can’t see a block. Clicked in that region anyway. Thanks for the tip.
I actually was talking about Charl Marais the old Grey College, SA Schools and WP, Springbok hooker from about 10 years ago. What did you think of him. Jokes. My bad! I did actually mean Charl McLeod. Thanks for the working it out and giving the right feedback.
Ya in rugby it’s not always that clear cut, but when you see a young player of Bok potential and he lives up to that billing a few years later there’s always a good memory of the time you first saw him as a nobody and a worthwhile story to share.
@beet (Comment 23) : yip, BMT also plays a BIG role in youngsters, take for instance Earl Rose and Willem de Waal. Rose has got all the talent, but cant keep his head up strait in a game. de Waal on the other hand is not that talented, but has got tremendous patience and calmness.
U19 –
Bulls 24 / Sharks 21 😉
@diablo (Comment 25) : was that the final score? 🙁
@AlienArmy (Comment 26) : Yes.
@McLovin (Comment 27) : thanks…dammit!!! Well ok,we’ll have to settle for 2 out of 3 then 🙂 hehe
Congrats to the mini Bulls. 🙂
@McLovin (Comment 29) : Thanks
Under 21 – 1/2 time – Bulls 27 – Sharks 22
30-22
36-30 Bulls
@McLovin (Comment 32) : 😐
@diablo (Comment 33) : Bulls have 36. 🙂
@McLovin (Comment 34) : Misunderstood 😳 😀
Bulls 36-35 Sharks
25min
Score??
@McLovin (Comment 36) : O kriek 😯
Bulls win.
39-35
To all my Sharks buddies: Sorry about the loss!!
Congrats diablo!! 😉
@wpw (Comment 42) : Thank you – sounds as though both games were very close 😛
Congratulations to the Bulls junior teams. The final scores in both games suggest that these must have been hard fought affairs that could have gone either way with the Sharks teams playing well and doing their province proud.
Well done to the Sharks u19 and u21 players for the good effort put in this season.
Score?
@Rahul (Comment 45) : under 19s lost 24-21. Under 21s lost 39-35
@McLovin (Comment 39) : Where were you getting score updates from?
@robdylan (Comment 46) :carp… Hope the seniors do better.
@robdylan (Comment 46) :
u/19s by 3
u/21s by 4
I don’t like the way that margin is progressing.
No worries though. If we win by 8 or more the number crunchers can say that on average we won all 3 matches. 😛