The Sharks took a step backwards, both collectively and individually, as they went down to the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday. In a team performance that barely scraped the 5/10 level, we rate the players concerned.
1) Beast Mtawarira. Battled to assert himself at scrum time and while busy as a ball carrier, struggled to cross the advantage line. 5/10
2) Kyle Cooper. Busy in the loose and one of the few Sharks to make any metres. Tended to get isolated though and was wobbly in the line-out throwing department. 6/10
3) Jannie du Plessis. Another bafflingly poor performance from the disinterested-looking doctor. Was bossed by a rookie at scrum time and did little elsewhere. 3/10
4) Pieter-Steph du Toit. Again the Sharks go-to man delivered the goods in a strong showing; again he found little support in his exploits. 7/10
5) Franco van der Merwe. Battled in the line-out and was bossed at the point of contact. Another iffy showing. 4/10
6) Marcell Coetzee. Tackled furiously all day, but was effective neither as a fetcher, nor as a carrier. Needs to learn some variety with ball in hand. 6/10
7) Ryan Kankowski. Did a reasonable job in an unfamiliar position. The Sharks were outplayed amongst the loose trio, though and Kankowski never got into the sort of position that suits his strengths. 6/10
8) Keegan Daniel. Not a great individual performance from the captain, although his hands and timing are superior to virtually anyone in the Sharks’ backline at present. 5/10
9) Cobus Reinach. A very solid and encouraging performance from a man whose scrumhalf basics improve in leaps and bounds each week. It’s his loose play, though, that sets him apart in a team sorely lacking x-factor. 8/10
10) Pat Lambie. Never looked uncomfortable and controlled reasonably well, even if some of his decisions appeared glaringly wrong. His unerring boot, though, ensured a log point that the Sharks arguably didn’t deserve. 7/10
11) Sean Robinson. A quiet debut, with a few mistakes and one good run right at the end. If we apply the “Sithole Principle”, though, he’ll be dropped for this display. 4/10
12) Meyer Bosman. After he’s worked so hard to dispel the “defensive liability” tag, it was disappointing indeed to see Meyer fall off quite so many tackles. Acted as though he and Jordaan have never met, in failing to take any of his mate’s admittedly wayward passes. 3/10
13) Paul Jordaan. Somebody needs to take this lad aside and work on the basics of his position. He has such a clear flair for this game, but he looks uncoached. Distribution and defensive alignment continue to be awful. 3/10
14) JP Pietersen. Continues to rediscover form and simply oozes class and confidence in all he does. The Sharks will be praying that his ankle injury isn’t serious. 7/10
15) Frans Steyn. Another poor performance from a man who simply cannot justify either his starting spot, or his massive salary, based on what is being dished up. 4/10
16) Craig Burden. Nice to see a little life in Burden’s play – the impact role suiting him better than a starting one, it would seem. 6/10
17) Wiehahn Herbst. Another huge display. The scrum started to move forward as soon as he came on and his defensive work and work-rate remain unsurpassed. Must start next week. 7/10
18) Anton Bresler. Added the fire and steel that was missing from van der Merwe. 6/10
19) Tera Mtembu. Not long enough to rate. Let’s hope he gets another chance next week.
20) Charl McLeod. On this performance, I’m afraid he’s not worthy of a Super Rugby squad place. 3/10
21) Riaan Viljoen. Set up one of the few decent attacks the Sharks had with a superb flat pass. Looks hungry and must be in line for a start now. 6/10
22) Odwa Ndungane. The old-timer is looking out of sorts and a hard decision may have to be made soon. 4/10
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😈 I have to agree on these ratings and it was the Springboks who showed the least interest in this game.
But we also need to take stock of the season here:
Cheetahs game – almost lost it but won by chance after a good first half
Stormers1 – Scraped through
Kings – won by a nose against a rookie team
Outclassed by Brumbies
Walloped the worst team Rebels
Lucky to beat Crusaders
Outplayed by poor Stormers
Is this the champion team for this year? Then these will be the consistant ratings. 😈
Got to disagree about Lambie Rob…(and I am one of his biggest fans). Still good on D and goalkicking is top notch BUT:
– he is not taking on the line and therefore cannot put others through holes. (Cooper and Cruden are masters of this right now)
– and unfortunately he is falling into the ‘stereotypical’ way of playing 10 in SA…
SO TRUE about Jordaan. Distribution is a real problem for him right now and WOW Frans Steyn has been woeful.
And this Kankowski thing is a joke too. He has done relatively well BUT If they are not going to let him play to his strengths, DROP him.
Paul Jordaan “looks uncoached” – could not agree more. My impression that something is seriously lacking in the support and skills coaching of the players seems to be vindicated every week.
Herbst, Bresler and Viljoen needs to start next week.
@KILLER SHARK (Comment 1) : thats been my assessment of the year so far as well!!! So what is the real problem here?? – and if we bear in mind its the same sh#t every year.
@Bokhoring (Comment 3) : AGREED!!! ‘Coaching’ is seriously lacking in my mind.
Not much to write home about; the players let themselves down.
Cooper, PSDT, Daniel (I thought he had a good game, particularly on attack), Reinach and JP were the only guys who deserve anything above a 5 in my opinion.
Odwa, Bosman, Jordaan, Frans and the Doc need to spend sometime in front of the mirror. Cant say that Viljoen looked any less hot-and-cold than usual either.
Might be time to consider JP at 13 or even 15 as he is our most creative back right now.
Marcel Coetzee, that oke would fit right in at the Bulls, he’s incredibly 1 dimensional.
@pienaar111 (Comment 4) :
Im just as disappointed as you, but if you look at our ball retention versus kicking % in earlier games, you can see that we are trying to play a more adventurous style of play. The issue is poor execution, and while we must look at our skill coaching as a result, every player needs to take personal accountability for their option-taking and catching and passing.
@Ludz (Comment 7) :
Run now while you can! 😈
@Ludz (Comment 7) : agreed!!! but then again who in this team (this season) wouldnt fit right in up North
@Big Fish (Comment 8) : ja we are way off the Bulls kicking ratios. my greater concern is attacking tactics…
– lots of ‘1-off’ runners aiming for the man, not the space
– how o
ften do we draw and pass, arms through and offload, dummy runners…
would you agree??
Good assessments.
@Big Fish (Comment 8) : I agree with the accountability thing .Coaches can go through countless drills and try improve their skills but if the guys don’t take accountability for their roles I feel sorry for the coaches who cop the blame.
What has happened to Lambie, his decision making and general play is as blunt as a butter knife. He is a different player to the guy who played in that Currie Cup final…
Last nights lackluster performance ,and really the performances of past weeks ,has lead me to think that there is an attitude problem in the team. I think its evident when you look at how we perform only after getting a verbal spanking at half time by the coaches. Could it be that we recruit guys who grew up wanting to play for other provinces? Do we recruit princesses who believe that anyone will hand them out a cheque anywhere in the world ,so their livelihood isn’t in jeopardy? If thats the case then they must go piss off to wherever they are happy and we should start investing in local talent. Rant over.
It is critically important we beat the Cheetahs this week. We have a difficult tour ahead. I can’t see us beating the Chiefs and Reds at home – we should be able to put the Force and Highlanders away. However we need to aim for at least bonus point losses against the Chiefs and Reds – so 10 points on tour should be feasible.
The Stormers have an easier tour than us – Hurricanes, Blues, Waratahs and Rebels – so they could very well bank 17 points on tour. If they manage to do that we will be in trouble for the end run, and will need to beat the Bulls in Pretoria.
Similarly the Bulls are also fairly well placed, with only the away games to the Sharks, Stormers and Cheetahs as real challenges.
Winning Rugby matches is all about intent, attitude and self belief. We can blab on about our poor execution but at the same time we need to be introspective(or the Sharks do). As things are would any of you back our boys to go out and put 90 points on any other side in order to make the playoffs(besides Rebels 😆 ) ? Well the Bulls did it with their sloppy boring execution…
Plumtree calls it lack of killer instinct: I call it a lack of heart. In the context of the campaign last night was important.
This year is do or die as far as I am concerned ,if we don’t win it this year we wont in the next 5.
I hope John Smit will usher in a new era for the Sharks ,one where our selectors chose to look locally and shake the mercenary tag we own.
My Team for next week.
1.Beast
2.Burden
3.Herbst
4.Du Toit
5.Bresler
6.Coetzee
7.Deysel
8.Keegan
9.Reinach…BTW; Brilliant performance yesterday!
10.Lambie
11.S.Maseko
12.M.Bosman
13.Jordaan
14.JPP if fit.
15.F.Steyn
16.Cooper
17.Jannie
18.Dell
19.Franco…he was to put it for real…very weak yesterday!
20.Kanko
21.Tian Meyer…superb for Rovers recently and still has a lot to offer.
22. S. Robinson
Maseko looking really good for Sharks XV, does the basics very well!
@pienaar111 (Comment 11) :
I agree fully. The way I see it, the players seem to have been given more licence to play with ball in hand when the chance is there (a huge change from previous seasons), but they just arent executing well.
I cant imagine what could be preventing professional players from making one-on-one tackles, catching a pass or making a pass, but that is something each individual needs to own up for.
@Talent (Comment 12) :
I always hesitate to call out a guy for attitude (these guys dont become professional sportsmen without having drive and hunger), but maybe you are onto something. For sure, the Cheetahs/ Bulls game was different in terms of player hunger!
@JJR (Comment 16) :
I would love to know what you think Cooper did to deserve being dropped?
Sharks really can’t afford to play an out of form centre pairing in Steyn and Jordaan, I’ll be the 1st to admit Meyer Bosman yesterday looked a bit like the 2011 Bosman, but he’s been good and should Plum not apply the ‘Sithole Principle’. I’d start him again
It seems to me that we missing both Michalak and Whitehead. Both of
sparked our backline more than any other player. Go watch the replays of last year. Our backline was feared when both of them were on the park. Lambie seems a bit dry and quickly becoming one dimensional. Its one thing keeping it simple when one needs to. Its another to vary your game and become creative when a try is calling. The opposition have worked Lambie out.
Where is Carlos Spencer? He needs to spend some time with that lad.
I will go as far to say that we should put Meyer Bosman as fly half when the sharks need to spice things up. Look at last year’s Currie Cup. Bosman was a brilliant fly half in that regard.
Things are so bad with fullback and fly half that Viljoen or Lambie should start playing at
Frans Steyn is the most over rated player in the world and his erratic play suited the French clubs. The Sharks are trying to get rid of its erratic play and Steyn is not helping. His continuing refusal to pass when he gets the balls should earn him a transfer to the Bulls where that sort of thing is encouraged.
This is what the team should look like for the Cheetahs:
1. Beast
2. Cooper
3. Herbst
4. du Toit
5. Bresler
6. Daniel
7. Deysel
8. Kankowski
9. Reinach
10. Lambie
11. Maseko/Robinson
12. Bosman
13. Jordaan
14. Pietersen
15. Viljoen
16. Burden
17. du Plessis
18. van der Merwe
19. Coetzee
20. McLeod
21. Steyn
22. Robinson/Maseko
I think the issue is definitely attitude. I think far to many have Heyneke on their mind (especially Lambie). Everyone needs to focus on playing their style of rugby and Plum really needs to fix the game plan, because I doubt what is happening now is what he had in mind.
@Big Fish (Comment 18) : No Im convinced it is. If we had to win that game ,we would have.
@Talent (Comment 22) : Why wasn’t it a must win then? 🙄
Considering the Sharks ‘tough’ tour coming up I would have expected them to come out all guns blazing? A win would have put them level with the Chiefs on 29 points.
@McLovin (Comment 23) : mid season ,not a home match .What I am saying is that if we had to win to get to the final we would have 😉 but thats not good enough for me. The Sharks leave their homework till the night/morning before its due.
@Big Fish (Comment 18) : From the start of the season Plum said he would pick the hooker that does the basics well…Coops’ throwing was not flash yesterday and everything seems to be a slow lob throw all the time; Burden came on a did better than coops…competition is good for us; you don’t perform you get dropped, as simple as that. We have many good players that would love to play as well…step up or get out the way…that’s how i feel.
Must be crap to be Plum right now. Bladdy hard to pick a team now…Sharks XV doing well and Sharks misfiring…makes for a big selection headache!
@JJR (Comment 26) : Cooper has been enormous in every other aspect.
@Talent (Comment 25) : Agree, Sharks can play when they want to and when their backs are against the wall…i definitely think it was in their minds that they can afford a loss to Stormers away from home…which is not a characteristic one would associate with a side that wants to win the comp. Shocking to be honest!
Sharks were tested to see if they had the character yesterday…as a team it was a very poor effort. Mentally most were kind of disinterested. One just needs to look at how many forwards we had at each breakdown. It was poor!
@Mocho (Comment 20) : Hahaha. You’re a funny guy, Mocho. 😆 Let’s bench the one man who’s actually putting points on the board and keeping us afloat. Whoaaaoohhh! Hahahahah! Love it. Classic. 😆
@Talent (Comment 27) : Agree, but if you can’t throw there really is no point. Cooper has been throwing pretty decent before yesterday, that’s why he started the last couple games. Clearly he is a lot better than Burden in every other aspect of hooker play; but if he throws like that, it is going to cost us.
And with Deysel back we can live without coops starting. Our possession stats in the first half mostly came down to loosing the lineouts, and actually he also had a few bad throws against the saders too…perform or step aside. We trying to win this competition.
@Talent (Comment 25) : Like they say in ‘ye olde English’ – Jy hap bubbles. 😉 😈
So when the Sharks lose it’s because they are not ‘mentally up for it’?
But when they win they are?
You okes make me larf out loud. 😆 😆 😆
And why is Fransie Steyn looking so grumpy on the field and whinging to the ref?
I thought fat people are suppose to be jolly? 😈
@McLovin (Comment 32) : You’re missing the point .
Have to disagree on people’s takes on Frans. I thought he looked better than he had in previous weeks and made a few good runs from deep where at least he looked to jink instead of running straight into people. He was one of the better Sharks backs.
Jannie has lost the plot, does he not want to play test rugby this year? At this stage Malherbe and Coenie are better options at 3. Once a again Franco was damn poor. What less must the guy do to get dropped. He is not S15 standard – how he makes the Bok training squad is beyond me. The Sharks loose trio was always wrongly balanced, what Plumn was thinking playing them out of position no-one will know. The Sharks cannot continue playing this combo as they lack a grunt player. Without Deysel or Alberts, Plum should have played PSDT at 7 and had Bresler and Jandre Marais at lock.
Reinach was good at 9, Lambie has not fire this year with ball in hand. Bosman is and always will be a bog ordinary player and Jordaan continues to disappoint. He seems to have poor hands and lack the physicality to impose himself. JP was good until he left. I thought Robinson looked out of his depth – too small. I thought Frans was fine. I’d return Frans to 12, move JP to 13 and Jordaan to wing, with Ludik at 15 when fit.
My Team for this weekend:
1. Beast
2. Cooper
3. Herbst
4. PSdT
5. Bresler
6. Keegan
7. Deysel
8. Kankowski
9. Reinach
10. Lambie
11. Viljoen
12. Bosman
13. Jordaan
14. Jp Pietersen
15. F.Steyn
16. Burden
17. J. du Plessis
18. v.d. Merwe
19. Deysel
20. Mtembu
21. Mcloed
22. T.Meyer
Saffex i like your idea of shifting Jordaan to the wing. But i would not move Jp to centre. Robinson did not impress. How Sbura get dropped for him was beyond me.
@DBOY (Comment 36) : You must be really disappointed in Marcell. You have Deysel starting and sommer in his place on the bench too 😆
Going to be a cracker in Durban. Like all are saying on the blog, it’s a must win for the Sharks. if we factor in the 4 bye points that have already accrued to the Sharks, then the cheetahs actually leapfrog the Sharks on the log. Both have 5 wins, with the Cheetahs having played an extra and lost.
Point is, if the Cheetahs can roll the Sharks in Durban (big ask of the Cheetahs, but doable) then they will overtake the Sharks without the bye even being factored in.
Bulls are also within a win of overhauling the Sharks on the log, and they have what could be considered, an easier game away against the returning Kings.
Plum did Sean Robinson a disservice by selecting him, there’s no doubt that he has massive potential, I watched quite a bit of him as a schoolboy, devastating fullback who in my opinion is so similar to Dagg. His confidence probably took a knock, but Plum really shouldn’t have selected him after just 1 Vodacom Cup game off the bench.
@Ludz (Comment 40) : I reckon he selected him in order to not disrupt the Vodacom Cup team too much.
Cobus Reinach has been called up to the Bok training camp.
In all honesty, they can just as well call up the entire Vodacom Cup team (except for a few Sharks).
What a frustrating game. I reckon Jannie should take a break – maybe a complete break for a while. He looks tired. We need one of our ball carriers back. If Jean is not fit for this week, maybe PDST should start at 7 and Bresler come in.
The backline is looking a little sick. Other than 9 and 14 its not penetrative at all. I think JP should move to centre or fullback. Don’t forget how good Frans has been in the past. At full strength though Ludik, Whitehead and Mvovo would play. Bosman is frustratingly up and down, Jordaan is just not doing it. Wouldn’t be too hard on Lambie though. In the first half he had a few bad kicks but he gets through alot of work and my goodness can he kick.
What is wrong in the Sharks squad???? Somethig big!!!!!!
What I would like to know from HM, why select guys who are leaving South Africa because the franchises can’t pay them enough … to join Springbok training squad? Why not try some of the guys who are loyal to the franchises???? This injustice is the reason why we are loosing to many young players. I see more of them leaving because they just don’t get recognised.
@McLovin (Comment 33) : He doesn’t seem happy in the team…
@Saffex (Comment 35) : dude what will it take for u to see that a big player is playing poorly???
-Steyn has been our worst back all season. FACT
Robinson needs a shot now that he is in…dont play the ‘too small’ card until he has 3 or 4 poor games in a row. And to be fair he caught a cold out there on the wing with that backline.
Too much individualism from guys like Coetzee and co. No deception in our play this season
@MikeSebMatt (Comment 44) : My concern is that Lambos kicking is the only thing worth writing about recently. Defense is always tops but he is not taking on the line like he was (ala Currie Cup 2010) or like Cruden and Cooper are now…
But no Im not writing him off yet. has a cool head and must just remember what type of game made him famous
I think I said it before in this season… you can’t look at the backs before the forwards to produce proper ball. To much of our ball coming to the backs was scrappy.
My 5c worth; Bosman was extremely poor. Jordaan is not living up to his potensial. Steyn was not as bad as last week. Robinson should get another chance as he didnt do any more wrong than the rest. Jannie was nowhere to be seen. My best players for the game: Reinach, Du Toit and Pietersen.
Maybe it is time to realise that Ryan Kankowski and Keegan Daniel are our best centres 😯
@pienaar111 (Comment 47) : If Robinson deserves another start, then so does Sithole. Reality is that Paul Jordaan made them both look like a-holes.
What became of Mark Richards?
It doesn’t help that 4 of our 9 injuries (before this game), was to loose forwards, only one of which comfortably wears the 6 jersey.
It would help if Plum sees Deysel’s potential to fill that role again. The a Deysel, Coetzee, Kanko/Daniel combo would work nicely.
Or Kanko or Keegan can even play 7, Marcell needs a break or something, but the real issue is 6… klienhans would have been a better draft in that Mtembu for this reason.
It also doesn’t help that 5 of the 9 players injured are Boks, add to that Ludik and Whitehead who have become key in our backline and Botes if you consider his form and the balance he brought to the loose trio, then you start to realise that our injuries has really hit has extra hard this year.
Kyle Cooper shouldn’t get anything more than a 5.
In fact I would have given him a 4.
Lineouts and scrums was where we lost it and he is at the fulcrum of both.
Disappointing.
@SteelShark (Comment 53) : He is contracted to the Bok 7’s side but has been out injured for almost a year now.
I agree with most of the ratings although i thought one or two a little generous.
In the pack Jannie was terrible and the loose trio were a distant second. Former Shark Mike Rhodes was outstanding and I have to think that PSdT could play a similar role on the side of the scrum. There is no balance in the loose trio – all gifted individuals but they are not a combination.
The midfield was as your ratings suggest abysmal. Bosman is totally one dimensional and switching him for Frans Steyn will not add anything in this department. Jordaan seems increasingly out of his depth at this level against quality opposition.
Frans Steyn butchered a good try scoring opportunity by doing what he always does – trying to run over the opposition rather than draw and pass.
@steve (Comment 57) : shit man, how hard would it have been to draw the man and pop to Robinson on the inside? Simple rugby…. even I could have pulled it off.
@Big Fish (Comment 8) :
Perhaps this is exactly why we’re out of sorts?
Maybe the team trying to get more into the old running attacking rugby instead of kick and chase.
@pienaar111 (Comment 11) :
The thing I noticed about WP is the support each forward had – they seemed to bull doze the sharks left and right.
Perhaps playing as a team would help us more than the individual performances.
Yes at times you need the individual flair and runs and performances, but when the game facilitates it, not because you’re too scared to pass, or play as a unit or because you’re isolated and have no support.
@King Shark (Comment 52) : Oh I agree. Sithole was treated like shit. Just making a point about sticking with the youngsters.
@JhbSharkFan (Comment 60) : Also agree. There is no cohesion in that pack or the backline. Its all individualism. As Rob said above – how hard is it to draw and pass??
– this, for me, is the single greatest issue in Sharks rugby. Trying to run alone over the defenders. On the rare occasion we step or hit the gap there is no support.
@pienaar111 (Comment 61) : Interesting to note that the Sharks XV seem to getting things right that the senior team are struggling with: http://www.sharksworld.co.za/2013/04/15/video-highlights-sharks-xv-v-boland/