The Sharks succumbed to a 10 – 15 loss to Western Province at Mr Price Kings Park on Saturday night, giving the Cape Town team hope of reaching the play-offs and making life very difficult for themselves to get that all important home semi final.
The first half was an even affair with the half time score level on 7 all. The Sharks were first to score through powerhouse Jean Deysel in the 10th minute. The conversion from Bosman was good to take the early lead. The build up to the first try came after a shot at goal was turned down in favour of an attacking lineout.
Province had to wait until the 29th minute to score their first points, with a try by Danie Poolman. The conversion was Lionel Cronje’s first successful kick at goal, having missed three penalties in the first half alone. The first half also further worried the WP coach as two of his players went off injured, Heinrich Steyl stretchered off and JC Kritzinger coming off clutching his arm.
The second started much as the first half ended, with the game only really kicking into gear in the 60th minute, when Western Province took the lead through a Dewaldt Duvenhage penalty. It took 10 minutes for the Sharks to hit back and level the game through a Michalak penalty. The winning score came from Province scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenhage, who followed through on a kick and dove over the line.
The Sharks made heavy work of a depleted Province team, still not able to get the basics right. Handling errors on the attack cost the Sharks as that last pass just would not stick on more than one occasion.
It must be said that the backline looked much better after the last minute shuffle, with Bosman starting at flyhalf and Adi Jacobs finally getting a Currie Cup start. With 20 minutes to go, Michalak was brought into the game and did not have the same effect as he had earlier in the season, seemingly still in some slump in form.
Credit to Province for coming up with only 22 fit players and playing a fantastic game, beating the Sharks at their own game and putting the Sharks under immense pressure for long periods in the game. Dewaldt Duvenhage was unsurprisingly named Man of the Match, who at 23, is the oldest player in the Western Province backline.
Sharks:
Tries: Jean Deysel
Conversions: Meyer Bosman (1/1)
Penalties: Meyer Bosman (0/1), Fred Michalak (1/1)
Western Province:
Tries: Danie Poolman
Conversions: Lionel Cronje (1/1), Louis Schreuder (0/1)
Penalties: Lionel Cronje (0/3), Dewaldt Duvenhage (1/1)
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Maybe if they tried to play for more than 10mins per game, they’ll actually be able to win a game.
dam after thrashing the bulls in the first game I had high expectations for this campaign. The boys tried hard but their efforts seem misdirected, we really should have beaten this province team today. We still in with a shout, just look at the log, but some changes def need to be made if we gonna defend the cup. The other teams seem to be getting better whereas we seem to be getting worse!
Freddie that kick…spooky stuff… 🙄
There is something more deeper within the team than just bad performances..guys don’t look like they taste hunger n pride for the jersey
how many times has bosman and the great stef screwed up? But they so good they deserve their 14th and 17th chance respectively. Adi knocks one ball on, however makes 2 line breaks but is the substitued because marius was having such a blinder, that only the coach can see. How does one go from being a player good enough from keep jacques fourie on the wing during the lions tour, only to be not good enough to be in a sharks starting 15 when 15 first choice players are at a world cup or injured. Disgrace.
@cody0007 (Comment 5) : wow dude, we all pissed off about it but thats uncalled for
@RuckingFun (Comment 6) : I agree, and I’ve edited the offensive bit out of the comment.
That said, I agree with cody’s sentiments for the most part.
@cody0007 (Comment 5) : For all the guys on this site that suffer from adieyes
I sell adiointment for a very reasonable price. 😆
Got to say, I’m starting to lose interest in this Currie Cup campaign. Sharks look like a club team right now.
@cody0007 (Comment 5) : A few more feeble losses will see Plumtree called into the headmasters office. He cannot justify these poor team selections for much longer.
The powers at Province must be smiling behind all the injury concerns. The forced development of their young stars in top level rugby, must put them in good stead for S15 2012. The Sharks on the other hand, have planned so well, that I will have a rugby and stress free year in 2012. I can not see that this old horse backline being competitive in a fast paced S15. We have no centre rescources. The game against the Stormers this year should have raised the alarm for Plum,as the
Bok centre pairing made us look like school boys. Add to that the obvious lack of a “beer fetcher”.(We have kept Marcell Coetzee, but was that at the cost of not having place or funds for pursuing a fetcher?) But instead of preparing for the S15 he decided a gold cup is more important for the ego. The gold cup might be our very prestigous Currie Cup, but a serious development programme, giving young players a chance in a less intense Bok-less Currie Cup must have been 1st prize?
Plum is actually just that, a plum 🙄
This crap (Sharks Rugby) has everyone in a flat spin. It’s so bad that logs can’t even be updated 😉
@cody0007 (Comment 5) : The Adi Jacobs for Freddie Michalak substitution was costly… 🙁 But let’s move on…Plum’s seem to never learn…wonder how the mood was in press conference… 😈
It’s absolutely baffling that certain players keep on making the Plum-grade. I have said it on another thread, I so hoped that Gouws Prinsloo gets an opportunity before Riaan Viljoen arrives next year. But alas, that chance will never really come, coz there are only two round robin matches left. Dok Craven always said, if your good enough your old enough. This is a “watered down” CC this year….the perfect opportunity to actually bleed these youngsters into the snr setup.
The game was a compilation of bad rugby from both sides. Constant basic errors and constant penalties, mostly at the breakdown for going over the top or not releasing the ball. I think schoolboy rugby has less basic mistakes.
We cant just say lets invest (meaning buy) in a centre or a fetcher. We ARE investing in players in the u21 setup. What is the difference? Buying JLP, Joubert and Bosman and having them play an absolute dull game with no inovation on attack and add Terblanche to that. Or play a youngster there who might not be “up to it”, but at least tries. We are playing bad rugby in anycase. It boggles the mind!! Its clear that the Sharks rely on Coetzee and much more on Deysel among the forwards and on their speedy wings, Mvovo in particular, in the backs.
We need a no-nonsense type of person in the Sharks hierarchy who can tell a player, “mate, thanks but you are not good enough anymore”. Mallet’s contract expires after the WC.
Sharks rugby are in a poor state of a fair. That’s for sure. Something has got to give before next year.
We effectively last to a WP u21 side and our coaches won’t give our youngsters a chance in favour of geriatrics 🙁 call me a pessimist but we won’t beat the Lions. this year’s cc is for either the Lions or Cheetahs :sob: hopefully something is done before SR! Or Kings park will be even emptier if that is pssible 😯
Locks a problem area as is center and has been for a while yet we still invest in wings ,fullbacks ,lforwards and front rowers galore.
To me only skeate desrves a starting place .
Next year;
1.Beast
2.Bismarc
3.JDP
4.Alberts(bet he will spend a large portion of the comp here)
5.Skeate
6.Daniel-I would have a look at coetzee here
7.Deysel
8.Kankowski
9.Mcleod
10.Lambie
11.Mvovo
12.Bosman 🙁
13.Stef 🙁
14.JPP
15.Viljoen/Ludik
Most boring game to watch!! Crap rugby by both teams!!
@Shark1Fan (Comment 19) : agree
@Talent (Comment 18) :
Firstly, I don’t think Stef will be around next year.
Secondly, you leave out Fred Michalak, who is contracted to us until the end of next year?
I do agree that Skeate deserves a spot at lock, but Anton Bresler has done very little wrong so far this season.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 21) : bresler and skeate were forming a very nice combo. Got disrupted a little when alistair came back in.
@robdylan (Comment 22) :
Hargreaves needs to wake up if he wants to play for the Sharks..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 23) : Same goes for most of those useless lot calling themselves Sharks at the moment!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 21) : Well you know if i start putting lambie at fb I get given a hard time if i leave michalak out I get the same. Lambie is the better fh so I would have him ahead of michalak so shut up already 😉
Sharks are a sorry bunch ,the thing thats the worst for me to swallow is that the weepee lighties are playing better than majority of our senior side, I hope they have sleepless nights .
@Talent (Comment 25) : Don’t get your hopes up about that. They don’t care enough about the team to have sleepless nights.. Its all just a job to them that pay the bills at the end of each month!
@Talent (Comment 18) :
Willem Alberts should be locked in as the Sharks best/first-choice blindside flanker. He was made to play there.
If anything I’d look at Jean Deysel as a part-time lock.
@Talent (Comment 18) : Rumour has it that the Sharks Fans want to enter into negotiations with Frans Steyn to come play 12. 😉 Now we just need Streauli to get the message to Frans that he can play 12 if he comes back and won’t be stuffed around like he was after the last RWC by being played everywhere except where he played while helping us win the RWC.
Comeback Frans!! Barrit has run away.!!
Feels like we lost against a varsity cup team. Very ashamed…….. 😥
@KSA Shark © (Comment 28) : Just think… Pat @10 and Frans @12… what a dream!
@Talent (Comment 18) :
Rather put Ludik or Viljoen at 13.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 21) :
“Firstly, I don’t think Stef will be around next year.”
Stranger things have happened. One Johan Ackerman comes to mind.
I hate to say it but i feel the lack of passion lies partly with the captain but also with the players. If you are a professional and cant get motivated for a Sharks/WP clash then im afraid your best position is barman at the outside bars! The number of schoolboy errors we made were shocking and I feel sorry for Plum. Yes he selects the guys but he cant catch and run and kick for them. If they perform at practise he has to play them! So look at the players first before blaming the gameplan etc.
@robdylan (Comment 22) :
Nothing wrong with the lock reserves imo. Jan Andre Marais has not done anything wrong either. Thing he plays a decent game. So we have Skeate, Bresler, Hargs and Marais. Then we have the other Marais and du Toit at the u21’s. Think that is fair coverage, albeit not very experienced.
@ Comment 18,
Alberts has to play in the loose forwards. We need two ball carriers which will allow Kankowski the freedom to find the gaps. An option would be to play him at 8 to get over the advantage line.
Bosman will not necessarily be an automatic choice at inside center as Swanepoel will be back from France (i think). Outside center is a problem. We did not breed in yougsters, during the CC, which leaves us with Adi (whom Plum does not rate) and maybe Ludik if Riaan secures the fullback position.
@Ben (Comment 26) : I know ,stems from this “ultimate proffesional cr*p” that is thrown around some of our older players ,screw that I want players like schalk burger ,hardly proffesional but do or die attitude.
@hendrikp (Comment 27) : Well I dont know it really only matters at scrum time ,nuts and bolts sought of thing .
@KSA Shark © (Comment 28) : Why we didnt fight for him is beyond me ,guess its that proffesional attitude decaying our ranks.
@JustPlainSHARK (Comment 31) : Not sure that would work ,imo 13 needs to be a clever distributor and link player, fb lines up pretty much the same as 13 just you need a bit more physicality in terms of speed and power at 13- lambie wouldnt be a bad 13 at all if he was a bit faster. Ludik on the other hand is a younger version of steff T ,Jacobs is the ideal 13 but I seem to agree with plum on playing him as an impact player
*by the way I do think proffesionalism has its place ,its just some times I wish we would be a bit more tenacious rather than percentage orientated on the field, I also wish we would fight to keep players instead of letting them go.
@dawj (Comment 35) : The number on his back is irrelivant ,deysel is second to none in terms of ball carrying ,it only matters come set piece . Another advantge of having deysel at 7 is that he poaches ball ,something hardly any of our other loosies do so it balances out with daniels at 6.
@Talent (Comment 36) :
Running lines etc. It matters playing a flanker at lock, especially from first-phase and second-phase.
Alberts is no lock. Not going to debate it anymore but if Plumtree had half a brain he wouldn’t even be considering it.
@Talent (Comment 37) : When players insist on playing like they do now, it is far better to Let Go!
While criticising the coach is all good and well, he too needs some sort of empowerment to do his job effectively.
@hendrikp (Comment 39) : Okay thats retarded ,running lines dont differ unless the game plan says A must be here and B there. When you say running lines are you talking on attack or defence, becuase on defence its more about a system ,no individual has to be in any exact place or have exact running lines otherwise anytime a tackle occured we would have huge gaps in our defensive structures ,players simply fall into place ,put their hand up ,communicate and act the role needed ,its all about an understanding of the system ,its all about player buy in and all players have to do is talk and observe. Dont know what you on about 😛
@Silver Fox (Comment 40) : I agree man ! but frans steyn is a world beater we shoulda fought to keep him ,one player doesnt make a team…well tell that to the abs . Frans would make a huge dif
@hendrikp (Comment 39) : And why wouldnt he consider it ,alberts has played lock for the springboks . The thing is its a balancing act ,we have an abundance of looseforwards that are to handy to leave off the field and problem area at lock. Nevermind setpiece imagine having deysel ,daniels ,alberts and kankowski on the field all at the same time ,add to that beast bismarc and jannie and we would burry any team there is . Throw in marcell coetzee for daniels at half time and you will out muscle any team in the world.
@RuckingFun sorry man. The adi thing has been building up for weeks. Apologies and thanks for deleting that last bit. Will never stoop to that level again. As for the sharks, well we set for more of the same as long as we hand out coaching jobs to former players or the guys in the inner circle i should say. Honestly i feel like crying
@Talent (Comment 42) :
We do not have a Daniels player..
Just FYI..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 44) : You lame ,and pety …you know that 😉
@Talent (Comment 45) :
Honestly, your comments lose all credibility if you do not know your players’ surnames.
So call me lame and petty ( note the spelling ), but at least I know my players.
@Talent (Comment 45) :
Misspelling “petty” does detract from the strength of your rebuke a wee bit.
@Big Fish (Comment 47) : 😯 hahaha it does
cool im just gna respnd lyk dis now 😎 my lingo ,my era
@JustPlainSHARK (Comment 32) : difference is, ackermann actually got better with age
@Talent (Comment 49) : why not rather learn to spell properly? I guarantee it won’t seem ‘lame’ when you’re trying to get a job that pays above minimum wage 🙂
haha rob i went through a stage where I had to use word to blog ,but really spelling daniel daniels is such a small thing ,you know what I mean so why always correct me? Is it some sought of chest beating about rugby knowledge
@robdylan (Comment 51) : Valid Point
@Talent (Comment 52) :
Its not rugby knowledge dude.. Its simple spelling..
Instead of changing your lingo to some form of gangsta rap, just make a mental note that the guys surname is Daniel.. Easy, isn’t it?
Ya why does it get on your nerves like that ? Its not such a big deal ,maybe it irritates you but to keep on about it disrupts conversation in threads and ultimately ends in arguments, so why not just let a stray s slide now and then ,its not intentional
@Talent (Comment 55) :
At the end of the day, I’m trying to hit it home to you that you look like an idiot. But you are ignorant about it.
So I won’t mention it again.. Go ahead, look like a chop.. Be my guest!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 56) : ag man, he probably calls our cappie Jon Smith 😉
@molly (Comment 57) :
Probably..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 58) : on another note, I’m still learning that its Ludik without the “c”. Baby steps 😉
Really just get over it ,im not ignorant im just defending myself becuase if it was not for your or Big Fish corrections barely any one would notice ,the fact that you point it out I find belittling. Instead of actually talking about rugby it often digresses into an argument as a result ,so go ahead correcting people and expect more rubish arguments littering the threads ,im sure its what you want?!
And by the way you come across arrogant when you correct spelling-Saying Just FYI is condescending- you infact also look like a chop. The more I look over my posts the more I see you jump to correct me, have a look comment 31… why so abrasive towards me?
@Talent (Comment 60) : I think its just a respect thing, its about taking the time to know the players names (especially the captain) and making the effort to get it right. And also its been pointed out often enough that I think its become a sensitive issue.
@Talent (Comment 60) :
If you knew me at all, you’d know I’m not arrogant.
Let’s just leave this, else I will cop a ban or something. I’ll leave your comments alone. Okay?
@molly (Comment 61) : Ya it really shoulnt have to become a sensitive issue. I dont spell his name with and extra s to disrespect him, the fact that I blog about him is more than enough respect! Its becuase I type fast ,faster than I can read and correct myself
@molly (Comment 61) :
You hit the nail on the head Molls.. But anyway..
Have a good evening all, I’m out..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 62) : Id rather you just respect the content and thought of my posts without correcting them ,I would love for you to argue to the death with me on something rugby related-not spelling, sound reasonable?
@Talent (Comment 63) : as long as you know the correct spelling 😉
I sometimes put the “s” on to irritate peeps here, as a wp-supporter its immaturely fulfilling 😉 think that maaay contribute to the sensitivity.
@molly (Comment 66) : Haha who cares ,I dont dot every i ,dont cross every t so what . I find it hugely disrepctfull to disregard what im saying ,not even acknowledge it and rather correct me.
@Talent (Comment 60) :
Look again sonny-jim: I have never corrected your spelling of players’ names. Unlike Richard, I don’t care enough.
Eish, what is this? Are we allowed on this blogg without being an Oxford graduate?
For all the Oxford oukies, every single name was misspelt in @Talent (Comment 42) : , yet you guys hammer on Daniels?
@robdylan (Comment 50) : ackermann = [email protected]Big Fish (Comment 68) : sonny-jim = Talent
I can pull out many more, I can pull out quite a bit in articles.
Now apologise to Talent!
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 44) : The conversion was Lionel Crnje’s first successful kick at goal, having missed three penalties in the first half alone.
An extract out of your article. As you started this whole debate, I would like to point out there are no such player as Lionel Crnje’s ANYWHERE 😯 .
@Silver Fox (Comment 69) : this is not about spelling, per se. It’s about getting a player’s name wrong. And yes, you’re being pedantic!
@Silver Fox (Comment 69) : I don’t care how you spell a player’s name but don’t change his name. 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 71) : @KSA Shark © (Comment 72) : @Silver Fox (Comment 69) : OK guys, before this escalates completely, can we just agree on the correct spelling of Steggman? I have is as a… s… s… h… o… l… e… Conincidentally, I spell Kuun the same way… weird… must be some silent letters in there somewhere…
@Culling Song (Comment 73) :
I believe that Kuun’s surname actually has a “t” at the end in the original spelling.
Hehehe thats better folks
@robdylan (Comment 71) : You’re on the money here 😀 @KSA Shark © (Comment 72) : Dude you must spend a day in SA with me. I end up in a personality crises the way my surname gets abused 😆
@Culling Song (Comment 73) :Maybe you spell it the same way coz they are closely related…. 😉
@Big Fish (Comment 74) :
@Silver Fox (Comment 75) : Fox.. Fix.. Fax.. Fu… 😯 yep, you have a problem!
@Culling Song (Comment 77) : Hahahaha really cool this one!
@Culling Song (Comment 77) : Hehehe I am in fits of laughter, you reduced me to tears. Great one 😆 😆 😆
@Silver Fox (Comment 79) : Glad to have been of service.