An injury update on the Sharks website has shed some light into the state of the squad oafter yesterday’s bruising encounter against the Reds.
The major injury concerns are in the front and second rows, with Steven Sykes staying behind to see a specialist on Monday, after a suspected meniscus tear to his knee. Sykes was stretchered off in the 28th minute and will possibly fly out to join the team later in the week, should his injury prove less serious than currently feared. Young Pieter-Steph du Toit is on official standby and will fly out in Sykes’ place if required. With only two fits locks departing with the squad, it will be vital to have another second-row option join the team in Sydney ahead of Saturday’s match against the Waratahs.
The tight head prop situation looks even more dire, with both Jannie du Plessis and Wiehahn Herbst forced off with injuries yesterday. At this stage, du Plessis should be fit for the Waratahs game, but with Herbst definitely out for at least a week, the Sharks have opted not to send Griquas loan player Janro van Niekerk on tour, since he has no experience on the tighthead side. With Dale Chadwick and du Plessis guaranteed to start against the Waratahs, it again becomes vital to provide adequate backup – able to scrum on either side – ahead of Saturday’s match. No confirmation has yet been forthcoming as to who this additional prop may be, but if there’s anyone in Durban capable of scrumming on either side, you can be sure that they’ve probably been asked to get their passport ready.
23 players will depart for Sydney today, with the Sharks confirming tomorrow which lock and prop will be flying out to join the squad.
Centre JP Pietersen, withdrawn on the eve of yesterday’s match, will also miss the Waratahs clash but should be fit to face the Brumbies a week later.
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WTF? Wasn’t the purpose of the loan from Griquas for the guy to be the cover for the next 5 weeks. 4 of which weeks are the tour? ❓
I wish all a speedy recovery 🙁
@KSA Shark © (Comment 1) : true KSA , it’s what i thought too? 😯
Thanks for the update Rob. Hoping the new prop is up to the task. Strange that they are leaving Janro behind though, even if he can only play one side of the scrum, the backup will be vital.
Approve my pic anyone?
surely with JPP injured Jordaan should be heading down under too?
is Smitty not in Durban at the MO?? damn how nice it would have been to have him on the bench covering prop at a time like this
@sharks_lover (Comment 6) : jordaan was in the squad all along boet
Surely not,Allan Dell possibly? Assuming PSdT goes on tour,Braam Steyn would go into the Sharks XV starting line-up and who’ll cover the bench,who was Mike Williams when he was playing u19s for the Sharks,is he still there though? Alwyn van Vuuren,a bit short for a genuine lock I suppose
Guys, think a little please.
Janro cannot play at 3, only at 1.
So what do we do for saturday’s game with wiehahn out? Go into the game with only one tighthead in the 22? We have to have at least 2 tightheads in the squad. After the waratahs, we will then need another loosehead, since herbst will be back. We can’t take 5 props though, so whoever tours in Janro’s place must be able to cover both sides.
@Ludz (Comment 9) : williams is playing for tuks. Stephan lewies would come in
What happened to JPP before the game? Midfiedl looked solid enough without him but jeez we looked disorganised for first 30 mins without him. Whitehead turning out to be a gem of a buy for Sharks. Bosman a different man this year too.
Rob McLeod? Is he ok? I detest the Waratahs more than even Juju, we cannot lose against them 🙁 that’s even if tele tubby is no longer playing
@robdylan (Comment 11) : oh sorry rob made a little error there,meant to ask who his locking partner was,my memory is failing
@robdylan (Comment 8) : hiyas bro , yeah i know , was just saying he should go with , glad he got a run this past weekend as he has spent a lot of time on the bench, game time should have done him good,
Ethsebeth got his chance at the stormers?? he is 19 , any chance of schonert maybe?? i know he also plays both sides?? YOUR THOUGHTS?
Surely they will take Schonert…i would back him, yes he doesn’t have experience, but we kinda short on time here to find another loan…Schonert scrummed Blauw soo badly in The Sharks XV game yesterday that he(Blauw) was subbed at around 40 minutes, i think. Schonert has great technique. I’m not panicked at all, that Sharks XV team is packed with quality talent.
I’ve not seen much of schonert at 1; but i think he can play there if required…maybe they could opt for young Dell, but i’m not sure they would look to him just, yet…still very young. Herbst is also capable of scrumming at 1, but obviously the rest of the 1 role with be incomplete. Jannie has also played 1. So Schonert is my guess 🙂
@JJR (Comment 16) : my thoughts too re Schonert
Schonert would seem the logical option,but don’t know about him at 1,nor have I ever heard of Mienie at 3. Allan Dell coming of the bench to scrum against Benn Robinson or that Kepu giant,a bit scary for him wouldn’t you say? Am a bit confused as to who of the 3 will go
@Ludz (Comment 18) : Schonert does seem to be the best option…even if he doesn’t play at 1, Jannie has played 1 before and Herbst scrummed at 1 against the stormers i think for a scrum or 2. Mienie is still dodgy come scrum time… and Dell, maybe a bit risky to chuck a young front rower, as you said, against a Robinson. Dell is a great prospect for sure, we just simply don’t know yet how he will do against top senior props with him being so young and inexperienced. We can’t take risks when it comes to the front row.
It will probably be Schonert, i just remembered that i saw that he trained with the superugby sqaud before the Lions game, because Jannie was unable to train because of a slight calf problem. So he was next in line.
Digby Ioane has been cited for his tackle on Coetzee as the citing commissioner said it met the threshold for a red card.
damit .. JPP in my squad as well .. had a terible FL round ..
@Zibbie (Comment 21) : I had 10 players out. I also have JPP.
@Zibbie (Comment 21) : Ha Ha, i had that same problem, probably cost me about 60 points…
@lostfish (Comment 22) :
including JPP i had 14 out .. so it was very bad
@Zibbie (Comment 24) : Ouch. Hopefully it will be better next week.
So my seriously early side prediction for Tahs game.
1.Chadwick
2.Bissie
3.Jannie
4.Marais
5.Bresler
6.Coetzee
7.Alberts
8.Keegan
9.Mcloed
10.Lambie
11.Mvovo
12.Bosman
13.Whitehead
14.Ndungane
15.Viljoen
16.Burden
17.Schonert
18.PS Du toit (Sykes’ injury doesn’t sound too good)
19.Botes
20.Fred
21.Joubert
22.Jordaan
I think I need to replace Schalk. I was hoping he would be back but it doesn’t look like anytime soon.
@JJR (Comment 26) : A torn meniscus is a bitch. I did mine in when I went snowboarding a few years ago when a fat cow on skis fell onto my knee coming off the ski lift. Luckily mine didn’t require surgery but I did have a lot of physiotherapy to do.
Man all of this just because van Staden left. Darn..
@lostfish (Comment 27) :
i saw somehwere they said he will be out 9 months ? might be wrong though ?
like me hoping al will get back . hehe
@lostfish (Comment 28) : Isn’t a torn meniscus what kept Deysel out of action for a good while as well, previously?
Thank goodness it sounds like Deysel’s Knee has finally been fixed properly…keen to see what he does for Sharks XV this coming weekend, and then we need him in our tour group 4 sure. Coetzee and Keegan could both do with a rest a some point, so having Deysel will allow us to start rotating our loosies a bit. Bissie can also rest at some point and then having Deysel on the field means we still have a forward to steal us some ball.
@Zibbie (Comment 30) : That sounds long unless there was ligament damage involved
@JJR (Comment 31) : ligament I think.
@Zibbie (Comment 30) : @Zibbie (Comment 30) :
That was Jacques Burger, the Namibian flanker from Saracens. You probably just read the name of the article on SuperSport which said something along the lines of ‘Burger out for 9 months’.
@hendrikp (Comment 34) :
could be . was not very intrested in the story
@lostfish (Comment 32) :
ok . acording to http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/community/wiki/injury-list/#Stormers he will return round 12 .
@Zibbie (Comment 36) :
then again ording to http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/community/wiki/injury-list/#Stormers the Beast also playes for the Stormers so who knows
@Zibbie (Comment 37) : 😆
So of our tight 5 we only have the du plesis brothers of our first choice players available… So glad our young players are stepping up. We could have a pretty interesting scenario at the last stages of the comp if we have a fully fit sqaud…
@lostfish (Comment 32) : My bad, I was replying to something else there.
@Zibbie (Comment 36) : I guess I need to replace him and use up a trade.
Bad times with injuries but we’re not the only ones suffering. Reds down to 3rd choice flyhalf as both Lucas and Harris have done their hamstrings.
Wonder when Heyneke Meyer will start sweating as we look towards the June tests
Maybe I should not complain, but Sykes is in my FL team 😥
If we sort the prop situation Out we should be in a for a good tour and make our way up the table a bit. This win against the reds was a helluva important. Now i just need to track downthat arrogant aussie who bet me rhe reds would beat the sharks…
@RuckingFun (Comment 44) : Good luck with that! If you find him, please share your methods
Off subject but I think Wales are going to give Aus a run for their money in June. I know Warburton might not tour but they will have enough experience on tour to trouble them
You know I can’t help but think of the injury problems WP had last season and the oppertunity it gave them to field youngsters and unearth some great talent.
The same thing may just happen to us on this tour.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 47) : agree, but it’s easier and safer to blood a 19-year-old flyhalf than a 19-year-old prop 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 48) : Aren’t Etsebeth (sp?) and Kolisi also guys that came in because of injuries?
I’m specifcally thinking of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Jandre Marais in this instance though.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 49) :
and what about the ginger ?
@KSA Shark © (Comment 49) :
You mean Jandre Marais?
I would love to see both these guys getting game time, and now I am pretty sure they will, but Rob makes a good point, your career is on the line if you play as a 19 year old prop and get stuffed.
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 51) : That’s what I said. 😉 (Let me go fix it quickly. 🙂 )
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 51) : While typing his name I thought to myself “don’t spell it the same as Juandre Kruger” and then I sommer put in the wrong surname. 🙂 AND it’s the flippen 2nd time I’ve done it. 😳
@Zibbie (Comment 50) : Actually true that, he even needed special approval to play he was so young, BUT those props don’t grow on trees unfortunately.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 53) :
Haha.. it happens..
I call it a brainfart moment.. I have one at least once an hour!
@KSA Shark © (Comment 49) : Yes, I agree entirely. No issue at all with backing Jandre (who is actually 23) and PTSD (who just turned 19, but is clearly next in line at lock).
The Stormers took a big chance in using Gingie and Malherbe at Super Rugby level when they were a year out of school. The feeling seems to be that the young Sharks props aren’t ready… I can’t say either way with certainty, but would always follow the coaches’ lead when it comes to ensuring the safety of young props.