Sean Everitt’s Sharks under 21 side were held to a 26-all draw by their Lions counterparts on Saturday, courtesy of a late try by the visitors. The two points earned nevertheless saw the baby Sharks qualify for the Under 21 competition semi-finals in third place, thus setting up a knock-out match against second-placed Western Province.
Gouws Prinsloo ws again in fine form for the Sharks, weighing in with a conversion and three penalties on the day, while tries were scored by scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, wing Jaco van Tonder and inside centre Heimar Williams. The team will fancy their chances against Province, having beaten the same opposition 23-17 in Durban just a few weeks ago. That said, though, they took a 32-16 against Province in Cape Town earlier in the season, so the match should be evenly poised.
Earlier on Saturday, Ryan Strudwick’s Sharks under 19s ended the season on a low note, being beaten 23-22 by the Lions, although the team will take much heart from the defeat, given that the score in the first encounter in Johannesburg was an embarrassing 59-20. Nevertheless, the loss condemns the Sharks under 19s to fifth place, out of the semi-final reckoning.
The under 21 semi-final takes place at Florida Park in Ravensmead, kicking off at 18h00 on Friday night and we’d like to urge all Cape-based Sharks supporters to get out and cheer the team on. The second semi-final sees the Lions travel to Loftus to take on the Blue Bulls, also on Friday evening.
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I guess the chances of either semi being televised are again at zero point zero zero 😥
Good game by the under 21s. Sadly Prinsloo did not have his kicking boots on, leaving 13 points on the field (in the time that I was watching)
The under 19s have once again ended the season strongly. I saw the earlier encounter and thought they would again be smashed. I was surprised that the difference was only 1 point.
Well done to both teams.
While our senior team got a bit of a hiding from you guys this weekend, there is at least a silver lining to the cloud, Lions are represented in the semis of the Currie Cup, under 21 and under 19 competitions.
@Greg (Comment 3) : And will most probably lose all 3 ther semi’s. 😆 😉
@Greg (Comment 3) : you’re right… that’s a huge improvement on recent years and will serve you well in years to come.
Nico Serfontein… what a beaut of a signing.
@robdylan (Comment 5) : will they be able to keep him without the Gumede millions?
@robdylan (Comment 5) : Sadly for the lions Serfontein is going – he is going to SARFU – and he will be missed.
He did good work with the junior structures and the Vodacom cup side this year – they also topped the North section of the Vodacom cup log but then lost in the playoffs.
his direct coaching involvment was mainly with the Vodacom side.
I went to the game on Saturday, the guys have so much potential. You can see they’re a young team though, not that the older guys haven’t made the same mistakes.
Overall I was very impressed.
Goodluck Sharkies!
@steve (Comment 7) : I didn’t know that. What’s he going to do for SARU?
@robdylan (Comment 9) : I believe that he will be responsible for juniors and club structures nationally.
I think that the difference he has made at the Lions has been in the structures that have been implemented to integrate the juniors with the Vodacom and senior sides – eg. game plans and absolute clarity and constant feedback on players development. They have also worked hard on overall conditioning at all levels.
The coaching teams at U19 & 21 level will still be in place and if they stick to the systems should continue to build.
@robdylan (Comment 9) : Rob any idea which u21s will still be contracted next year and which wont? And any u19s getting contracts?
@SheldonK (Comment 11) : I’m always working on trying to find that out, but it’s not easy 🙂
@SheldonK (Comment 11) : If we had to make an u21 team of current available players for next year it would look like this (and it would be pretty much unstoppable in the u21 compo
)
1. Danie Mienie
2. Gideon Bruwer
3. Nick Schonert
5. Pieter-Steph du Toit
4. Mike Williams
6. Frans Kleynhans/Chris Cloete
7. Siseko Jafta
8. Marcell Coetzee
9. Fred Zeilinga
10. Paul Jordaan
11. Jared Meyer
12. Heimar Williams
13. Piet Lindeque
14. Kieran Goss
15. Jaco v Tonder
All these guys are already playing u21 or higher
@beet (Comment 13) : Thats a good 15 but we both know that it takes a squad of about 30 good players to make a good team. My next question was how many of the u21s from this year will be awarded senior contracts if they not u21 next year?? The Marais brothers probably, dont know if they will keep both Malton and Hadebe considering the hooker depth etc.
@beet (Comment 13) : Formidable side!
Lions will have most of their backline back as U21’s next year.
9’s all three – Bredenhann, Kruger & vd Watt are still U20
10 – Hein Cronje is U21 but Marais Schmidt started often and Garth April will hopefully be fit again (may play 15)
12 & 13 RdB and Mjekevu are both still u20 – (also hear that another 13 who has played at Vodacom level at another big union will be joining for 2012)
11 & 14 JR Esterhuizen, Erasmus & johan de goede will be back
15 – if you are going to throw in marcel Coetzee I’ll add Jaco Taute but i suspect April will play 15.
Not too sure about the pack but having seen some of the youngsters they will be massive and I think that Ruan Venter and Ruan Botha will make a formidable 2nd row supported by Willemse.
I’m pretty sure that any discussions about contracts for next year will only take place AFTER the u21s win the title.
@steve (Comment 15) : Thanks for the reality check.
I guess if last years u19 champs had access to all their u21 from this year in 2012, they’d look even better than us:
Kitshoff, Ntubeni, Malherbe,Vd Sluys,Etsabeth,Carr, Another,Kolisi, Another,Lane,vd Spuy,Du Plessis,Tshotsho,Adams,Cohen
Who is the VC centre that’s joining the Lions or have you been asked to keep it hush-hush?
@SheldonK (Comment 14) : I guess we could add in:
A Dell, F.Marais, M van Dyk, S Lewies, D Kelly, D Smit, G Haupfleisch, M Dube and K Fisher
and a few others.
@beet (Comment 17) : not sure if its public (or a done deal) as yet.