As relieved as we all are with another bonus-point win on the road, we need to acknowledge that the Sharks, both collectively and as individuals, weren’t as good in Melbourne as they were the week before in Perth. Let’s have a look at how we think they stacked up.
1) Beast Mtawarira. Despite coming on in leaps and bounds as a scrummager over the last few years, we saw on Friday that Beast can occasionally still be bested by a really top tighthead who knows all the tricks. Greg “Yoda” Sommerville is still one of the best in the game and he taught our man a bit of a lesson up front, which had a clear effect on the rest of his game. 6/10
2) Bismarck du Plessis. Superb in virtually all he did, with only a few wayward lineout throws blotting his copybook. Was particularly effective at the breakdown, with several crucial steals sparing the Sharks. 8/10
3) John Smit. Looked a little rusty in his first start and while his end of the scrum stood a little firmer, it was far from a dominant performance. Will want to contribute more in general play as well, although he did well to ensure the troops never panicked. 6/10
4) Steven Sykes. Battled to maintain the high intensity of the previous week’s game. Put in a few runs, but was otherwise quiet. 6/10
5) Alistair Hargreaves. Another big man who needed to step up against the unexpectedly physical Rebels, yet was strangely quiet. Needs to take his share of the blame for the lineout woes as well. 6/10
6) Keegan Daniel. A key man on defence and while his effectiveness with ball in hand was limited against the rock steady Rebels tackling, he pulled his weight as a support players and also pulled off a good turnover or two. 7/10
7) Willem Alberts. The Sharks’ go-to man again and the one to start turning things around for us after a long period where we simply had neither possession nor momentum. His break to set up Mvovo’s try was a key moment that turned the match. 8/10
8) Ryan Kankowski. Another real momentum player who helped to get the Sharks back on the front foot and kept the defence honest all day. Scored a wonderful try at a crucial stage of the game as well. 8/10.
9) Charl McLeod. Was hurried into a few mistakes and some poor decisions, but ultimately delivered what we needed him to, which was quick ball to the flyhalf. 7/10
10) Pat Lambie. Took a few wrong decisions on attack, I felt, but was otherwise very solid on a day in which his space and time were severely limited by the strong Rebels defence. His perfect goal-kicking record on the day ultimately won the match for the Sharks. 8/10
11) Lwazi Mvovo. A really strong showing, coupled with a wonderful try at a crucial time. Needs to work on his accuracy, though. 7/10
12) Meyer Bosman. Not a good day on defence for the Sharks centres, although Bosman proved useful on attack, with quick hands in Mvovo’s try (even though he could have scored it himself) and good follow-up work to score the fourth. 7/10
13) Stefan Terblanche. Stef will be the first to concede that he didn’t have a great outing in Melbourne as he was bested far too easily by the pacey Rebels backs. He’ll come back from this a better player, as always. 5/10
14) Odwa Ndungane. A quiet game by his high standards, but still ever-present as a support player and can teach the younger players a thing or two about work rate. 6/10
15) Louis Ludik. Another confident and assured showing from a man who just gets better every week. The pick of the Sharks backs. 8/10
16) Craig Burden. Unused
17) Jannie du Plessis. Made a real difference to the scrum when he came on. 7/10
18) Anton Bresler. Unused
19) Jacques Botes. Not enough time to be rated
20) Conrad Hoffman. Not enough time to be rated
21) Jacques-Louis Potgieter. Not enough time to be rated
22) Adrian Jacobs. Looked sharp and full of ideas and was responsible for the bonus point try with some lovely skills on the ground. 8/10
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Very acurate ratings for me.
Bissie was brilliant and I think if it wasn’t for him we would really have struggled to win.
bit harsh on beast. somerville was touching heads which is not allowed. it gave him the edge cos he could go in at an angle. pollock missed this.
@Ben (Comment 2) : i wouldn’t give the win to one man. the forwards overall did good work. and pat’s place kicking has been a revelation.
rob, pleased to see you shared the blame between stefan and bosman.
I would have given McCleod a 6 for some missed tackles around the fringes, that I felt resulted in the Rebels building up momentum at crucial periods.
adi amazed me. after some real shockers, out of nowhere he came out and played the game of adi the master. he definitely let plumtree know he is ready to play again.
@CapeShark (Comment 6) : lets be honest scrummies world wide aren’t known for their great defence. they are usually supported by the loose forwards that take responsibilty of looking after the fringes. we should question where were the forwards that they weren’t doing their jobs.
@try time (Comment 7) : Patience…
@Charlie (Comment 9) : adi needs to work on his defence though. 1 from 2. always been his achilles heel.
yup stefan has been credited with the poor defence mantel. missed 4, two of which led to soft tries. bosman only missed 1.
ah but i must apologise stefan did break the gain line. then why does it always look like mvovo and odwa always get the ball too early and against the touchline with two defenders shepherding them out. i suppose you can break the gainline running diagonally thus killing the players chances of using it out wide.
@try time (Comment 10) : But the tackle and steal at the death with the Rebels on attack needs to be credited as + 10… 😈
@try time (Comment 3) : Beast wasn’t complaining and he doesn’t seem to mind touching heads. He is the loosehead, VERY easy for him to turn his head away and still hit the engage well.
Overall I’m happy that the Sharks could grind out the win – it shows a sense of self-belief within the team which is comforting. The centres will need to tighten up on their defense. There were signs of a weakness in the midfield in earlier games but some great scramble defense in those cases probably kept anyone from being overly concerned.
Pat put in another solid performance but there were one or two occasions where I thought he could have attacked instead of kicking the ball away. Hopefully that confidence will come in future games. He must back himself as a game-breaker.
I loved all the turn-overs – the Sharks one again have me convinced (as in last year’s Currie Cup) that a specialist fetcher is not a necessity.
Seemed to me that even after a promising looking engage, yoda was getting under beast and bending his back
Didn’t get to watch the game, but surprised that Beast got bested by Somerville: he has dominated just about everybody. Would love a view from DB. Hope that Beast took some lessons and comes back stronger; he has the youth and hunger to do so. Not to mention the power.
Regarding Stef, I have the worl of respect for him, but I fear that playing him at 13 is going to cost us – he should be competing off the bench as cover for all outside back positions.
Hey all long time !
Kanko and Alberts ,within a period of 10-15 minutes, changed the game ,these are two dangerous players, they have also seemed to have rubed of on one another-and they seem to work well in tandem. Worried about ST missing tackles 😛 and John Smit game fitness , maybe its just that he is strugling to find his beat.
Im worried about the Crusaders game ,even more worried about their 10-12-13 combination playing for the ab 🙁 something else ! Even if conrad and sbw play together or Maa N & Freun you have ,in both cases ,extreme talent . In recent years the ab 12-13 has not been their strong point imo ,not that it wasnt good ,but now… eish
One more thing ,Lambie and his kicking top class -cheers steyn, keep it up boy. cheers all
Spelling and grammar –apologies
@Talent (Comment 19) : You do have four minutes to edit your spelling with the edit comment box. 😛
Replaying the Cipriani try, I’m really surprised Mvovo didn’t go through with the tackle. He was lined up to make the tackle and then pulled out of it. Maybe he was marking the outside, I guess, but he could have stopped Cipriani from scoring right in front of him.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 14) : only reason i mentioned it was the previous week the ref insisted that no-ones head must touch they must be aiming for the gap. which is right. i was pointing out the inconsistencies between refs, that can ruin games.
@CapeShark (Comment 20) : Okay it’s a minute and a half but it seems like 5 years before a comment eventually appears.
@try time (Comment 22) : Oh Sorry my mistake. It sounded like you said it gave Somerville an edge.
Pretty big blunder from Kaplan this weekend, eh? 😕
How he missed the ball being kicked out on the 60m line and a new ball being quickly thrown in on the half-way is beyond me.
@CapeShark (Comment 25) : Not Kaplan’s error at all!!!! he asked the AR who insisted that it was the correct ball.
It is mentioned in the relevant thread for the 6Ns 😉
Well done Sharks….last year a game like this would have gone against us. The defense was really worrying and should definately be looked at. My first impression when I watched the game was that the Rebels actually played a very good game and that they had really improved a lot. I think it was just what the Sharks needed…an away win with a bonus point and a wake up call all in one. Perfect I say and there weren’t any injuries which was a bonus.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 24) : i did. that is why the referees are supposed to be putting a stop to it. aren’t they. i thought the plan was to make sure that there was no illegal advantage at the hit. maybe i misinterpreted all the penalties at scrum time in the first 4 weeks of the competition. also funny how with a different ref in the week before somerville was penalised a lot.
@Pokkel (Comment 27) : The encouraging thing is, most people will concede that the Sharks had an off-day at the office yet still picked up a bonus point win. The last couple years a bonus point win has been virtually impossible. To be able to get one and still be stuck in second gear says a lot about this side.
@Charlie (Comment 9) : Vodacom Cup rugby makes miracles happen 😉
@CapeShark (Comment 25) : not kaplans fault. the assistant referees fault. also the reason why assistant referees won’t be given more responsibility over off side lines, props putting their hands on the ground at scrum time, forward passes etc, cos they cannot get simple things like this right.
@Pokkel (Comment 27) : yeah agree. sharks have tended to go into throw the ball around mode against “easier” teams and lost. good to see they can turn things around during the game. although the rebels did gift the sharks some easy tries to get back into the game.
@Jarson (AddicteD) (Comment 30) : So Habana will be playing VC soon. 🙂
@KSA Shark © (Comment 33) : He should yes, and I can name a few others, Ricky the Prop, Morne Steyn, Timotei, Spies etc 😛
@Jarson (AddicteD) (Comment 30) : Think it can do Meyer Bosman & Oupa Stefan some good… 😆
@Charlie (Comment 35) : U should tell the coach
@Jarson (AddicteD) (Comment 36) : 😉
For one baddish game I think u r way too harsh on Oupa…or is it to get into Charlie’s good books?? Pissies!! 😈
@KSA Shark © (Comment 33) : @Jarson (AddicteD) (Comment 34) : We could only wish
@Ice (Comment 38) : You`re only as good as your last match. 😈
@Original Champion (Comment 40) : 😆
@Ice (Comment 38) : but Ice, these rating are based only on one match… go back and look, I’ve generally given Stef very good ratings. I have no grudge against the guy whatsoever, but I do genuinely feel he was poor against the Rebels.
@robdylan (Comment 42) :LOL I understand that, talking about the comments! Now because of one bad match he’s the worse thing type of comment 😉
@Ice (Comment 43) : oh right… well, not sure if you’ve noticed, but we have some excitable fans…
@robdylan (Comment 44) : No, shit, Sherlock!! 😆