The weekend of rugby comes to a spectacular end in Durban where the Sharks host Western Province at Mr Price Kings Park, hoping to get their campaign back on track after a loss in Kimberley last weekend which cost them the top spot on the log.
A few changes in the Sharks team sees Tim Whitehead return after breaking his hand, a sure boost to the Sharks backline that has been struggling with Riaan Viljoen in charge. Will we see him dropped earlier in the match in an attempt to get Bosman to run the show earlier? Pieter Dixon makes his first start ahead of Monde Hadebe, who has done really well so far in his new role.
For Western Province, the Springbok call-up of Frans Malherbe has only dented their bench, with only one casualty in Rynhardt Elstadt after last weekend’s win over the Cheetahs, Elstadt being replaced by Tyrone Holmes at the side of the scrum. There is also the return of danger man Joe Pietersen to the bench, and he is likely to see action at some point in the game.
Sharks: 15. Louis Ludik, 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. Tim Whitehead, 12. Meyer Bosman, 11. Rosco Speckman, 10. Riaan Viljoen, 9. Cobus Reinach, 8. Keegan Daniel (Capt), 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Jacques Botes, 5. Anton Bresler, 4. Jandre Marais, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 2. Pieter Dixon, 1. Dale Chadwick
Replacements
16. Monde Hadebe, 17. Julian Redelinghuys, 18. Peet Marais, 19. Brynard Stander, 20. Charl McLeod, 21. Marius Joubert, 22. S’bura Sithole
Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Damian de Allende, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Tyrone Holmes, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Deon Carstens
Replacements: 16 Steven Kitshoff, 17 Tom Botha, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Helmut Lehmann, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Joe Pietersen
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So the winner of this game goes to second on the log…
Quite keen to see a good end to the days Rugby… Next weekend I’m fishing so will not be watching…
GO SHARKS!!!!
Ouch… No parking around the stadium…
Serious wet field…
Wow it’s wet…that a lot of water there at the stadium…
Don’t see 4 tries here…
@Hmmm (Comment 5) : agree…
Kudos for those in the stadium…
Guys you all say hadebe has done a lot..I never see him in the game?????
PK each way gets the score to 3all
Second good kick from Bosie and the Sharks back in the lead…
Sharks 6 – 3 WP
9min
This water on the field is making for some spectacular views, and some funny moves
6-6, penalty by the Greek
Sharks 6 – 6 WP
14min
Try Botes…
Bosman conversion good…
Sharks 13 – 6 WP
17min
Geez this is a fun game…
That pitch is still very wet…
Why don’t they lift the pitch and put a draining system in…like Coke Park…
I once played cricket and the game stopped for one of those highveld thunder storm and the M2 highway (runs right passed Coke park) was literally a river…20 min later the Lions played and it was dry…
Well, Durban and it’s wet pitch… 1995 RWC semi final comes to mind…
Demetri PK
Sharks 13 – 9 WP
26min
i hope this is not a close game at the end. I dont wanna see ‘defending for your life’ kind of style in these conditions.
Cobus the ball and Gio all over the line TMO
Haha no try…
That should upset the crowd as the not year this commentary…
PK Bosman
Demetri PK
Sharks 16 – 9 WP
36min
Demetri PK
Sharks 16 – 12 WP
HT
man when deysel decides to compete for the ball he comes away with it every time.
not bad from the Sharks so far… looking composed. Want to see Monde on sooner rather than later… feel Dixon is lacking something
@shaniboi (Comment 8) : That´s because he´s not on the field.
This is the first time I´ve seen Reinach play and I must say that I´m impressed. Seems to have a cool head, good kick and option-taking is pretty good as well.
@Franshark (Comment 23) : Huh? Sê weer. My Klingon is nie so goed soos dit kan wees nie….
Bosman to kick for goal…
Short
Sharks 16 – 12 WP
42min
@rhineshark (Comment 30) : 🙂
Bosman gets another chance
PK over
Sharks 19 – 12 WP
45min
Good option… With the advantage our way…
Bosman PK
Sharks 22 – 12 WP
49min
Sinclair off with a red and then Deysel with a Yellow…
Punshing and handbags swinging…
WHAT THE FCK. The biggest load of bull shit i have seen. Isnt that tv ref from cape town?
@cody007 (Comment 38) : must be… 🙂
10 minutes with 14 against 14 and after that a full 17 minutes (at least) with a man advantage
Ludik having a good game…
Demetri PK
Sharks 22 – 15 WP
59min
Try by Keegan…
Bosman converts
Sharks 29 – 15 WP
62min
TMO for WP try…
Try awarded…
Sharks 29 – 22 WP
65min
Can we score another 2 for the BP???? Let’s hope so!!!
Sharks with a scrum in the corner of the swimming pool..
@Franshark (Comment 49) : In the WP half or our own?
This is Bull-shit… Send off the captain too…
Tyrone Holmes Red Card
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 50) : wp half…
Try for Botes… Running mall..
Jacques Botes Try
Now SHARK kill this dirty bastards…
fcuk the sharks & the referees in this game!!!! fxuk u
Bosman Converts
Sharks 69 – 22 WP
70min
they niggle & get away with it…this is just kak
@Megatron (Comment 57) : haha they to good for you 👿
Intersept try for province..
@Megatron (Comment 59) : whatever!!!
What a kak try to concede. Come on!!!!!!!! Just one more!!! Cannot let the Lions lead the log by 1 point!
Ludik taken out late somme give another red…
more KAK!!!!!!!!!!!!
A bid harsh… Yellow card awarded….
@Megatron (Comment 65) : from WP.. Yes…
Professional foul should be another yellow
Penalty, Sharks opt for scrum
Botes off, sublime game…
this game us BULLSHIT!!!!!!
held up against 12 men
Bosman over for a try? Sky sports is down
TMO on the other side is bloody useless.
Deysel over TMO….
Held up 5 meter scrum….
@Megatron (Comment 71) : Why not go for the scrum after the penalty???? We had 8 vs 5 FFS!! No thinking going on in McLeod´s noggin.
Advantage Sharks, penalty, scrum
Penalty try…bonus point…..
Sharks 43 – 27 WP
Full Time
The normally eloquent Megatron is either very angry or very drunk – or both 😆
@Franshark (Comment 78) : Should have got that far earlier. Why play helter-skelter when you have almost double the opposition in a tight phase siuation?? 😯
4 try bonus point in the wettest weather against a dirty wp team
GO SHARKS!!!!!
wohoooooo!!!!!
OK, I only watched the last 5 minutes. Lemme get this straight…we had a THREE man advantage and we couldn’t score without the help of the ref??? 😐
@rhineshark (Comment 76) : when you have 15 against 2, it shouldn’t matter WHAT you do with the penalty 🙂
@CapeShark (Comment 80) : 🙂
@Megatron (Comment 65) :
Lmao!!! Somebody get this boy a glass of warm milk.
Get a grip man. WP didn’t keep their discipline.
@klempie (Comment 83) : help from the ref?????
@rhineshark (Comment 76) :
Because McLeod is the scrumhalf version of Morne Steyn. Going for his own glory all the way, not passing to his teammates
@Franshark (Comment 87) : Yeh. Penalty try.
Ludik MOTM
well deserved, great game 🙂
@klempie (Comment 89) : a penalty try is scored when the opposision illegally stops you from scoring… the ref has to give it…. no help… that’s his job…
if ludik and deysel doesnt not start our s15 team next year, i will never go to kings park again.
@Franshark (Comment 91) : Dude I know that! But seriously, was playing for a penalty try the right option with 1 minute to go?? They could easily have duffed that last try with a knock on or something, especially given the conditions. Just get it to one of the back rowers or back liners and let them flop down over the line in one of the gazillion gaps there will be when there are THREE men off the field. 🙄
@klempie (Comment 93) : Yes scrum was right option 8 against 5, no way they would have stop Sharks legaly from scoring a pushover try. Great win for Sharks.
@klempie (Comment 93) : I understand, just saying its not help from the ref, agree we should have nailed them in the last 10 with such an advantage, still I’m happy with the BP as I did not expect it when I saw how wet it was….
next week we play for top spot….
@Franshark (Comment 96) : Sharks forwards look good tonight or was it just a very bad performance by the wp pack? Think if we could get one or two of our boks back we should nail them in Jozi.
@JD (Comment 97) : I think Dixon played well and brought some stability in the front, Daniel leads well, allowing Deysel to play his best…. Botes used all his experience…..
Good going by the Sharks…
@Franshark (Comment 98) : ja Dixon played well. Wonder what they will do next week as I am sure Burden will be back, will they use Dixon on the bench? Hope Lambie will be released to play for the Sharks next week, he needs to get some game time!
@klempie (Comment 93) : klemplie you must never worry about how you win as long as you do, The scoreboard never has a comments collum, Btw sound like megaton is megapissed tonight bwahahaha!!
@JD (Comment 97) :
The Lions forwards had been looking solid for a good few games…and you’ll need to be a bit better than tonight to show them up up-front…
@Hmmm (Comment 102) : Yes they have been good, but I do think Sharks are super fit as in most games they were in conrol from about 30min on. It’s going to be hard in Jozi but I do feel we can beat them there if they Sharks play like they can and not like they did last week.
@JD (Comment 103) :
The Lions have won all there last 3 games in the last 30…against WP / Bulls / Cheetahs…
So that alone won’t be enough to win upfront…plus we turnover more ball at rucks than the Sharks…plus the Lions outscored by double with a 3rd of the possession…
@Hmmm (Comment 104) : Yes they’re doing well with much less possession but some where the lack of possession is going to bite the lions. You can’t give away 2/3 possession in every game and win all the games. Going to be a cracker of a game, but I do think Sharks have atleast a 50/50 shot at winning it.
@JD (Comment 100) : I hope so too, but it won’t happen….
@Hmmm (Comment 104) : @JD (Comment 105) : Oooh Sharks are definitely the underdogs going to Jo’burg.
Lions should be able to just arrive for the game and pick up their bonus point win. Hopefully the Sharks can at least scrape a losing bonus point….