Another good win for the Sharks against the Force this weekend sees them surge to the summit of the Super Rugby log. Let’s analyse the individuals and see how they performed in Perth.
1) Beast Mtawarira. Tendai was superb – aggressive and dominant in the scrum and prominent on the drive. He tackled like a demon too and was always on hand to add his bulk when needed. 8/10
2) Bismarck du Plessis. He is going from strength to strength. Basics were superb and he scored a great try. Still tends to carry the ball a little upright at times, but this was his best performance so far this year and he’ll only get better. 8/10
3) Jannie du Plessis. A few missed tackles took the gloss off an otherwise assured performance from the rock in the Sharks scrum. 7/10
4) Steven Sykes. He was simply everywhere and the try he scored was a real beaut! Sykesie’s best all-round game in over a year. 9/10
5) Alistair Hargreaves. Growing into the big shoes of Johann Muller and doing so very well indeed. Commanding performance in the lineouts, while his defence and handling were superb as always. 8/10
6) Jacques Botes. Brought into the side as a late replacement and he had a quiet game, by his standards. Might still be struggling a little after his injury. 7/10
7) Willem Alberts. What can we say? He played like Willem Alberts! The opposition had no chance. 8/10
8) Keegan Daniel. Most tackles, most line breaks, most turnovers… Keegan was clearly our most valuable forward on the day. 9/10
9) Charl McLeod. Did his basics incredibly well and ensured Lambie an uninterrupted supply of neat, quick ball. 7/10
10) Pat Lambie. Dictated matters well and never looked out of his depth (which he never was). Decision-making was sound and his try was simply amazing. 8/10
11) JP Pietersen. Started slowly, but started to get more into his running as the game progressed and before his injury, had shown a regular penchant for breaking th Force line almost at will. He will be missed. 8/10
12) Meyer Bosman. Meyer had a really great game – involved in everything with his quick hands so often keeping a movement alive after it seemed dead. A great thinker and snap decision maker. 8/10
13) Stefan Terblanche. Ultra-solid on defence as always and captaincy skills cannot be questioned. Did miss touch from a few kicks, though and still lacking something as an attacking threat at outside centre. 7/10
14) Odwa Ndungane. The best back on the park until he was taken out. 9/10
15) Louis Ludik. Going from strength to strength and really getting his confidence and attacking instinct back after his horrific injury. Safe as houses under the high ball and on defence as well. His best game for the Sharks to date. 9/10
16) Craig Burden. Came on at flank and added pace and urgency, as always. 7/10
17) John Smit. Not enough time to be rated.
18) Anton Bresler. Not enough time to be rated.
19) Ryan Kankowski. Came on as a sub for Botes and was full of running, proving a real handful for the defence. 8/10
20) Conrad Hoffman. Not enough time to be rated.
21) Jacques-Louis Potgieter. Played out of position on the wing and did well defensively, although he has no chances with ball in hand. 7/10
22) Lwazi Mvovo. Say what you like, this boy has finishing power. Even though neither of his tries was awarded, he showed how dangerous he can be with ball in hand. 8/10
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Willem should almost earn another point for the hit on the nr 12 of the force. 😯
Sharks are playing very good rugby. I think that they will end up at the top of the SA franchise.
Alberts had a pretty quiet game by his standards but was still super effective.
Just have to say that I was a bit concerned that the Force managed to break our first line of defence so easily with only 14 players though.
@Loosehead (Comment 2) : News24 has an article saying that the Sharks are hungriest SA team at the moment and no one can argue with that.
The Bulls have already lost and the Stormers have come close to losing twice already and must now face the giant killers of the Highlanders. If they don’t bring their A game (which we haven’t seen this season yet), they might just lose at home as well.
The Cheetahs and Lions haven’t won yet but I can’t help but think that the Lions aren’t too far away from a win. Unfortunately, it already looks like the Cheetahs have a date with the wooden spoon, although it is far too early in the season to write anyone off yet.
If the Sharks can pull off another 5 pointer this weekend when we play the Rebels we might be putting some serious distance between us and the rest of the SA Conference.
@Butchie34 (Comment 3) : my thoughts too. we have great scramble defence, but our first up tackles aren’t as good as they should be. better teams will punish the sharks.
I agree with TT. We played against 14 men for more than 60mins and although we didnt concede a try, they did dominate us for a long period. We shouldve scored more tries. I am very glad we won and I’m sure it can only get better.
Like the ratings.
Some unsung performance alongside some big ones from Keegan, Mcleod, Lambie and Hargreaves: Bosman’s passing is sublime, Beast is playing excellent rugby, and Sykes is now a real glass-eating 4.
Not concerned about our line being penetrated – we had some disruptions, the Force were psyched up, and we were perhaps a bit naïve in the speed with which we went wide – needed to pull in more players at the breakdown first.
There is nothing we cannot fix with a good video review session.
Guys let’s be honest we can’t really ask for more from the guys..they are human..n prob playing great consistent rugby at the moment..that’s all we need is a 80minute performance week in n out..
While certain quarters will make much of the fact that we were only playing against 14 men, that we should have scored more tries, blah blah blah… the fact is, even when they had 15 men on the park, we dominated proceedings, and one was always left with the feeling that we could take it up a notch. Personally, I celebrate an important victory, but I still feel like we haven’t quite hit our straps (which is a good thing!)
The one concern would be John Smit’s tackling. I am a huge fan of John, but from what I have seen so far this season, his tackling has been woeful. I’m sure it will improve with some time on the park though.
Only Sharks fans can find stuff to complain about when we win away from home by 5 tries to 0… Sheesh.
@robdylan (Comment 10) : We’re a tough crowd to please. Maybe we’ve been building up our expectations since the CC truimph last year subconsciously and after the good results of the first two rounds, we’ve built up the Sharks to the level where they need to destroy a team like the Force by at least 50 points. But saying that I did enjoy the game, although sometimes I was surprised Mr Brown gave the red card after he ignored so many off the ball penalties against us in the game.
An example, which really got me going was when their number 12 came over the ruck and basically pushed Terblanche, who was the scrumhalf away from the ruck so other Force players could come and steal the ball. Against the Blues, Kanko was penalised for this offence and Bismarck against the Cheetahs. Some consistency would be good…
@robdylan (Comment 10) : And 9 tries to 0 for the season so far!
@robdylan (Comment 10) : i don’t think people are complaining. i think there is a little concern. although the sharks were dominent, we still tackled a lot more than previous games. you don’t expect that when you are a man up and you are the stronger team. 16 missed tackles is also a lot. it puts a lot of pressure on your team mates to clean up. but we all agree to not play your best rugby and to walk away with 5 points is great. i am sure plumtree has a plan though. in a long tournament like this you can’t be on top form every week. i wonder if plumtree is saving the first peak for the saders game then ease off a little and build up again. and if the sharks keep getting the wins it works out better.
Wonder what kind of threat the force bring to the park…they play good then kak..but wonder where the sharks are going to have to work to keep them limited
the sharks tackled more than the force, suggesting our ball retention wasn’t what it should be especially against 14 men. too much defensive rugby can sap the energy levels of players which can lead to player meltdowns when the sharks least need it. this has happened the last few seasons with the sharks and has cost them dearly. the sharks need to look at keeping the ball in hand more over the next to games and let the rebels and chiefs defend. so the guys can go into the saders game with more energy. a saders win will definitely help the sharks get that home semi.
It just seems really petty to question the defence when the Sharks have conceded no tries in 240 minutes of rugby. Why overanalyse when you have such clear empirical evidence that it IS working?
@try time (Comment 15) : speakin of the chiefs did u see how that backline fire when on song..masaga is too dangerous…n strong too..
Don’t be naive people 🙄 We have not played against the best opposition yet, defence needs to be solid at all times.
Sometimes when the opposition gets a player sent off it actually works against you. We experience this the good way when we beat the Bulls at Loftus with only 14 men for a large part of the game a few years ago. Nothing to worry about – just a little eager at times and going wide too soon.
The only crit I would have is that our wings seem to get sheparded into touch way too easily.
IMO, Rob’s a bit generous to Charl McCleod. The dude was offsides a helluva lot, incurred a couple penalties and took some stupid options. He’s a valuable player to be sure, but his glory-boy snipes almost never work out. Otherwise ratings are spot on, maybe a point less for Willem Alberts for some sloppy hands every now and again. Then again, I’m a tough crowd 😀
@robdylan (Comment 16) : agreed. but force and crusaders are different leagues. no-one is asking for wholesale changes, just a little fine tuning as we go along.
@shaniboi (Comment 17) : they definitely have upped their game a notch or two. last week i thought they were bonus points for the sharks, now i am a little more reserved. i am pleased though we don’t play the highlanders. they are by far the most improved side this year.
@CapeShark (Comment 20) : He is sniping to much and at the wrong time at the moment.
Did anyone saw Alberts arm shake after he hit his head that one time.Was it out of pain or was it because of the impact to his head.
Because after that he did that tackle where his head hit the guys knee and was down.
Worried about the guys brain 😕
@Honey Badger (Comment 24) : I saw that too and I was worried but hopefully it’s not serious.
I thought an 8 was a bit generous for Meyer… lost the ball when in a good attacking position a couple of times.. otherwisse spot on.. 😉 Does anyone know who was awarded the man of the match?
@Pokkel (Comment 25) : He did not look well to me.
@mikey (Comment 26) : I just think he and Stefan over did that play and they clearly suckered them into it by showing the gap and closing it.
Good ratings bar Ndugane. 9/10 for 18 mins ?
@Speed 7. Who cannot even choose a decent team to support, now u wanna come and tell us about ratings????? 😈
well it looks like us “complaining” fans aren’t far off the mark, as john plumtree stated as much in an article on sharksrugby. most the minor gripes about the sharks play mentioned this morning was seen by Plumtree and he feels the same way. it is good the see the coach has picked these things up, so he can work them out with the team.
ok sharks aside, am i the only one starting to get a little concerned with the average performance of the bulls and stormer boks. it is 6 months away from the rwc tournament, so there is no reason to panic. but there must be a little concern about the lack of creativity from these “senior” players.
@try time (Comment 32) : Yip, watched the Bulls game this weekend and I’m hoping Pierre Spies drastically improves or the selectors see the light. Same goes for Wynand Olivier.
@vanmartin (Comment 33) : add zane and morne to that list.
@vanmartin (Comment 33) : Spies’s defense was shocking but it’s been shocking for a long time now but it’s only being exposed now that the rest of the team is playing badly as well. Spies has been in the Bok team ONLY on reputation for a long time now. I reckon there are at least 5 no 8’s in SA that are better than him at the moment.
@Pokkel (Comment 35) : totally agree. ok maybe not 5, but there definitely better no8. i wouldn’t count ryan as better though.
I’d give Alberts a point less for all his handling errors. And butcher me if you want but I also feel we need to sharpen up our defence, before it comes too bite us in the back.
@try time (Comment 36) : I think Ryan is 2 times better.
@try time (Comment 36) : Let’s see
Duane
Kanko (on current form)
Alberts (I still think his best position is 8)
Keegan (as above)
Daniesaures
Johnstone…
Whitely for that matter as well.
@Pokkel (Comment 39) : ryan is good, but he just can’t seem to make that step up to international rugby. juan smith, duane, alberts.
@Pokkel (Comment 35) : How Spies continues to make the Bok selection grade is a mystery on par with the disappearance of the crew of Mary Celeste, the size of the Denver airport, the identity of the Zodiac killer, and the inner workings of my wife’s mind. A player of his physical stature – lightning fast. 300kg of muscle mass (admittedly, 100kg of that is in his cheeks) – should absolutely dominate the tackle point, instead of displaying a feeble here-let-me-brush-the-dandruff-off-your-collar-and-hopefully-slow-you-down-enough-for-someone-else-to-make-the-hit tackle technique. I’m sure that waif Phillip Burger tackles harder than Spies. It boggles the mind…
@Ben (Comment 38) : don’t get me wrong, i think ryan is a great player. he just looks out of his depth in the boks. this maybe because he doesn’t get enough game time and has to impress from the bench.
@Culling Song (Comment 41) : little pat tackles better than spies. even “little” keegan. i would like to see frans ludeke drop spies. that will definitely dent his rwc chances.
@try time (Comment 43) : If one applies the whole pound-for-pound comparison used in boxing, Keegan Daniel would stand head and shoulders above any loosie in the country. That’s a whole lotta aggro in a small package!
@Culling Song (Comment 44) : i am pleased the way he has used his agro positively in the last 8 months. he lost a lot of fans in the beginning when he got punchy. he definitely is on my list of most improved sharks players.
@Culling Song (Comment 41) : Well said. 😆
@try time (Comment 42) : How many times has Kanko got an opportunity playing with the 1st choice Boks in his preferred position? He usually played with the 2nd stringers or out off position.
I agree with you that Kanko hasn’t shined in the Bok jersey but I also think that Kanko has developed a lot in the last year and he is playing the tighter game a lot better. Kanko might not be the 1st choice for the Boks but he is definately better than Spies.
@Pokkel (Comment 46) : i admitted that much above. it is hard to shine with splinters in your butt. but both he and keegan look better than spies at the moment. but with the bok mentality of bliksem bende loosies, i would rather have the three i mentioned above.
is this website quieter when the sharks are winning, or am i imagining things? rob must sometimes wish for a loss just to liven things up here. 😆 😆
@Culling Song (Comment 44) : Bliksem!!
@robdylan: the secret of success is always looking for improvement..if even by half a percent.
One way to stop worrying about def is to always be on the attack (idea) :p
@Culling Song (Comment 44) : Great things come in little packages. And as me old mate Joe Elliott used to insist, “it’s not the size of the pistol, it’s the power of the shot.” (Never got proof of that, mind you!)
When it comes to Keegs and SuperPat neither are afraid to get stuck in, no matter who or what size they are up against! They put Hamster Spies to shame. But then that’s not particularly hard to do, is it, he’s like a dinosaur with a walnut-sized brain powering that sauropod of a body.
Kanko has not been afforded an extended run in the bok team.just look @andries strauss and see what happens once a player gets quality game time week after week.your natural talent starts coming to the fore.
@bergshark (Comment 51) : The other way is not to lose.
@robdylan (Comment 16) : Sigh. Is there a light that you and I can see that is somehow not revealed to others? Is there some parallel universe in which the Sharks are screwing up their games every week and losing by a huge margin? Did someone change the rules while I was in hospital to say that you get points deducted for every try you score?
Ho hum.