The big match for us Sharks supporters, as the Sharks host the Highlanders at Mr Price Kings Park, a match that has to be a must win game for the Durban based side.
The Sharks come off a loss to the Chiefs and a bye weekend, and should be raring to go as most of their players are back from injury. We see the inclusion of Beast Mtawarira in the front row, while the inclusion of Paul Jordaan in midfield is an exciting change. We can only hope that the centre combination of Whitehead and Jordaan see a lot of quick ball in order to put JP Pietersen and Lwazi Mvovo in plenty of space.
The Highlanders came from 21 points down to beat the Cheetahs last weekend, displaying the kind of running rugby we can only dream of. The Highlanders have impressed this season so far, and currently lie in second spot in the New Zealand conference, and will want to pick up another win today to stay ahead of the rumbling Crusaders.
Sharks: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie,9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel (captain ), 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Anton Bresler, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis / Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Wiehahn Herbst / Jannie du Plessis, 18 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Ryan Kankowski, 21 Frederic Michalak, 22 Meyer Bosman
Highlanders: 15. Ben Smith, 14. Siale Piutau, 13. Tamati Ellison, 12. Shaun Treeby, 11. Hosea Gear, 10. Mike Delany, 9. Aaron Smith, 8. Nasi Manu, 7. Doug Tietjens, 6. Adam Thomson, 5. Jarrad Hoeata, 4. Josh Bekhuis, 3. Chris King, 2. Andrew Hore, 1. Jamie MacKintosh (captain)
Substitutes: 16. Jason Rutledge, 17. Ma’afu Fia, 18. Culum Retallick, 19. Elliot Dixon, 20. Jimmy Cowan, 21. Chris Noakes, 22. Kurt Baker
Tweet
Very nice afternoon in Durban after early predictions of rain..
Slight wind and a chill in the air, but we should see some running rugby..
Go Sharks!!!!
OK Im ready, early I know but im Super Excited.
Come on boys, we can do this. GO SHARKS. We Believe
Anyone know of a live stream for the game?
Only a few more minutes.
Go sharks let’s have a great game.
@JarsonX (Comment 6) : the nerves….
Jordaan and Whitehead. couldve been brothers, they look very similiar 😕
@rhineshark (Comment 5) : http://www.firstrowsports.eu/watch/122801/1/watch-super-15-rugby:-sharks-vs-highlanders.html
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 10) : Thanks mate!! May angels sing you to your sleep tonight. 😉
Good tackling by the Sharks, penalty….
@rhineshark (Comment 11) : No worries. Enjoy the game and Ill be listening for those angels.
Sharks 3 – 0 Highlanders
3min
Off-side penalty against the Sharks…
HL PK
Sharks 3 – 3 Highlanders
6min
So business as usual. As soon as we score, we give away points straight afterwards. 🙁
Penalty for the Sharks, hands in the scrum…
Lambi PK
Sharks 6 – 3 Highlanders
11min
Forward pass stop HL attacking move
Lets hope Jordaan doesnt tackle like that all game or its gonna get ugly.
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 21) : ja, bad miss
Penalty to Sharks, HL off-side
Beast making a huge difference so far. Sharks scrum 100% better than in recent weeks, and against a solid scrumming unit too.
Lambi PK(300 points in SR)
Sharks 9 – 3 Highlanders
16min
3 from 3 by Lampie
Huge play at the ruck by the Sharks, penalty on the half line..
Monster kick
4 outa 4 from my FL captain SuperPat 😛
Make that 4 from 4
Lambi PK
Sharks 12 – 3 Highlanders
18min
Pk missed by the HL’s Mike…
Getting another shot as Sharks been penalized again for comming in from the side, missed again…
Mcleod better this week in getting the ball to the backline…
@Franshark (Comment 33) : The whole team seems to have improved over the bye.
That lineout was just very poorly executed.
@lostfish (Comment 34) : As I say that they make stupid errors and lose ground and give away a penalty.
@lostfish (Comment 34) : Difficult to say with only 21 percent possession.
Sharks penalized under the sticks, for going off their feet, now he says something about off-side and its tough is his comment to Bismarck
PK over
Sharks 12 – 6 Highlanders
27min
come on ludik, come on deysel, come on sharks
I know I’ve said this already…
Sharks penalized for going over…
Its all going ok now, but Sharks need to get their hands on and protect the ball a lot more. Possession stats are aweful
Another kickable penalty. Highlanders beginning to make their possession count, and now Sharks down to 14.
Penalty to the HL, and Botes gets a Yellow for comming in from the side…
@Franshark (Comment 41) : Now penalised for coming into the ruck from the side
Botes yellow carded 😯
@JarsonX (Comment 46) : Now the Sharks are using the headless chicken approach.
This is like watching paint dry…boring!
PK over
Sharks 12 – 9 Highlanders
33min
Crucial 10 mins coming up here. Sharks cant afford to give Highlanders the ball with a man down.
and Lambie knocks it directly into touch…
This must be the kakkest Sharks team in Super rugby history.
Haven’t seen a Shark put in a big hit at this level in years!! Well done JP, maybe your friends can follow your example.
Come on Sharks!
Sharks struggling to get possession but still opts to kick way to often…
Jannie made his 1st ever handoff on Thomson 😈
Penalty to the Sharks, side entry from the HL’s
@rhineshark (Comment 52) : You dont remember the year they only won 1 game?
PK over by Lambi
Sharks 15 – 9 Highlanders
39min
Commentators dead right. Sharks only in this game thanks to Highlanders errors. Sharks have created virtually nothing and havent come close to the tryline.
McLeod should spend more time trying to get the ball out of the rucks and passing decently and quickly rather than waving his arms and looking at the ref.
Lets break
HALF TIME
Sharks 15 – 9 Highlanders
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 58) : Was that the year Putt got fired, Muir took over and they won the first game he was in charge and lost the rest?
The Sharks are DESPERATE for a DECENT scrumhalf.
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 58) : 2005
@lostfish (Comment 65) : I was praising him earlier but spoke too soon 😳
@lostfish (Comment 65) : and some basic skills
@Franshark (Comment 67) : I said the Sharks seemed to be improved but then they made me look stupid
Not one of these players has a clue on how to create space. Nobody knows how to pass properly or they simply hold onto the ball when it should have been passed. The body positions at rucks are a bloody joke.
Watching this Sharks side is a total waste of time.
@lostfish (Comment 64) : Indeed
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 58) : No. Thank God for memory loss. 😛
@rhineshark (Comment 70) : What body positions??? They can’t seem to stay on their feet or enter the ruck from the right direction
@rhineshark (Comment 70) : Sharks (and fortunately the Highlanders) are not changing their running angles. They are drifting across the field, easy to defend, hence a tryless game so far. With their possession, if the Highlanders start to vary play, Sharks will be in trouble. First priority for the second half should be to get their hands on the ball, and hold onto it. Forget the stupid hoists, run direct, run hard, then spread the ball when the line is depleted. Highlanders havent had the patience to deplete the defense, and the Sharks havent had the ball long enough to do so.
We seriously need new coaches, the Sharks are looking worse than my son’s u12 team! 😈 How Bashford has remained employed all these mediocre seasons is beyond belief!
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 74) : The Highlanders are committing a lot of players to the breakdowns. If the Sharks can exploit that they should be able to break the line.
if we loose does plum get fired?
Sharks seriously off the hook after those first few moments
@cody007 (Comment 77) : If we lose, it doesn’t help his cause.
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 78) : Ditto above comment
Hl’s run 70meters and Sharks get saved by a penalty…
You guys are still ahead on the scoreboard .. so you cant complain to much .. 😉
How on earth do we let NZ’s 15th choice flyhalf run through about 4 tackles??
@Zibbie (Comment 82) : Only because the Highlanders are giving away penalties their own half.
And still the sharks just kick the ball away. WTF!! Dont they want possession???
I wonder how much trouble Skinstad will get into for calling the Sharks’ attack pathetic. 🙂
Finally I agree with something he said.
HL’s line out in Sharks 22..
@Zibbie (Comment 82) : Can we start now? 😛
So predictable. Finally the Sharks line breached. Lets hope its a wakeup call, but Im not holding my breath
@Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 75) : what makes it worse is that he has been no good for a while and management has done nothing about it.
HL’s try and converted
Sharks 15 – 16 Highlanders
51
Break by Mvovo, knock by Bismarck…
@KSA Shark © (Comment 88) :
ah yes .. i know a nice place where all the PTA sharks can go when the team loose .. im a VIP member there 😛
First highlight for sharks… Pity about the final pass, but a much better display
What is wrong with all the kicking we hardly have possession and what we have we kick away! 👿
@GreatSharksays (Comment 90) : it really makes me sick! I don’t know whether its more painful to lose or to watch the Sharks play such pathetic rugby! Does VanZyl not watch our games?! I am so disgusted I am going to return my season tickets, tell them they can sell them again at reduced rate that is all its worth right now 🙁
Here we go again 🙄
@cody007 (Comment 77) : Have a look at the 2nd last paragraph in this article.
http://www.sharksworld.co.za/2012/03/14/friends-in-right-places/
Sharks gets a penalty
@Zibbie (Comment 93) : 😆
Ball going to Coetzee way too often. He can´t pass, so things going nowhere.
6/6 for Lambie, Sharks creep back ahead, but still doesnt hide the cracks.
Lambi over
Sharks 18 – 16 Highlanders
57min
Someone hit Macleod. Geez his kicking out of hand has been aweful
Had Mvovo got that to Jordaan….
Raining now
Good chase from Ludik, Sharks speeding up the game…
Good play forcing a penalty
Would love to see Macleods kick vs pass stats
Lambi PK over
Sharks 21 – 16 Highlanders
61min
Yes yes yes
Lambie scores….
LAMBIE YOU BEAUTY
We will take the try… bit fortuitous, but hey, what can you say.
FL Captain you beauty!!! 😛
If I go into early labour the Sharks will be to blame.
Mcleod… Daniel… And Lambi…
Conversion over
Sharks 28 – 16 Highlanders
68min
@JarsonX (Comment 112) : I am so pissed I forgot to update my FL league this week.
Its getting time to tighten up, maybe bring on Deysel for Botes
Two good changes. Sharks need more power at the ruck and mauls.
Deysel and Herbst on
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 116) : there you go 😉
Surely not the time for Kanko??
Kanko warming up
Sharks mess up the 22 kickoff
Bismarck with a clearance kick to the half line…
FULL TIME
Sharks 28 – 16 Highlanders
And that´s the ball game! Well done Sharks!!! 😀 😀 😀
5 from 5 and 2 margin points 😎
Game over. A win, but another ugly one. This cant continue. The wins are masking the very real flaws this Sharks team has.
pretty kak performance… It’s a win, I guess, but a pretty shit one at that.
@Franshark (Comment 123) : More distance than our regular punters 😈
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 127) : Yes, we are lucky that the Highlanders didn´t pitch up. Injuries also disrupted their game somewhat. Scrappy and crappy game all round.
@robdylan (Comment 128) : Agree, glad about the win but we sucked BIG time 🙁
@rhineshark (Comment 130) : On the bright side, it wont be taking up any time on the highlights packages on supersport.
@Pablo Dinero (Comment 132) : 😆
Shitty game but well done Sharks.
Kak rugby. It’s a pity we won so Plum’s job is still safe.
@Pokkel (Comment 135) : DUDE, Has my mood been rubbing off on you? 😛 😉 I echo your feelings BTW. 🙁
Dude my moods are all my own! 😉
@Pokkel (Comment 137) :
Crap game. The Sharks look very uncoached and a little clueless. Nice to win for a change though. But they need to do a lot of improving yet.
@robdylan (Comment 128) : those wins don’t really make you feel good though. It feels more like a win that the Highlanders gifted to us.
Much better game by the Sharks…
JPP great game at wing…and improved the Sharks game out wide…Ludik solid at 15….Tendai had a GREAT game…
Sharks just need to find an alternative to Mvovo then they will have a very good backline…
The Sharks backline was much better defensively…