Down to the House of Pain we go as two desperate sides chase an elusive win.
Kick-off in Dunedin is at 09h35 SA time.
Highlanders: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Phil Burleigh, 13 Tamati Ellison, 12 Shaun Treeby, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 TJ Ioane, 7 John Hardie, 6 Jarrad Hoeata, 5 Josh Bekhuis, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Chris King, 2 Andrew Hore (captain), 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Liam Coltman, 17 Ma’afu Fia, 18 Elliot Dixon, 19 Joe Wheeler, 20 Fumiaka Tanaka, 21 Hayden Parker, 22 Jason Emery.
Sharks: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Francois Steyn, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Lubabalo Mtembu, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Keegan Daniel (captain), 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Wiehahn Herbst.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Anton Bresler, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Tian Meyer, 21 Piet Lindeque, 22 Odwa Ndungane/Derick Minnie.
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Kom Haaie
any news on F Steyn and JP Pietersen injuries?
No Minnie in the squad, Ndungane on the bench.
I am not really happy with the team.
– Steyn should play Vodacom Cup on current form
– Minnie brought a lot last week but is not even in the 22. Playing without a fetcher. Plum never learns
– Meyer on the bench is a surprise, but not a bad decision per se
@grant10 (Comment 2) : idiot.
Well, Sky Sports broadcast says Minnie is on the bench wearing 20, Ndungane out
Supersport was claiming Ndungane was on the bench with Minnie out.
Guess we’ll see once the players run onto the field
I have Sharks by 20 on SB, don’t let me down. Go Sharks!
Sky NZ being ridiculous showing Mtembu when they talk about Pietersen. Their lack of knowledge regarding overseas rugby is astonishing.
I remember last year on Re-Union they were talking about Tiaan Viljoen, Sian Ebersohn and this year they had a list showing Taute on the Sharks team.
Ohh no Walsh!
Steyn losing possession… What else is new?
pathetic pass by Meyer….
Please keep updates flowing. In ladysmith for the day and don’t know where to watch
So is Ndungane or Minnie on the bench?
So Walsh did not get any this morning…. 👿
Yellow card for Pietersen. Delibirate knock on. Highlanders have a scrum on our 5m line
Minnie on the bench. Ndungane as the waterboy
Jp gets a yellow
Daniel turns it over and clears.
Penelties conceded after 8 minutes:
Highlanders 0
Sharks 4
HL for first pk
Classic Walsh we better score tries to win this!
Slade hits the post
Are the sharks looking in charge though?
When JPP leaves…the Sharks will be the SA side with the most useless wings!!!
Try Highlanders!
Are these guys ever focused?? So many errors!!
Sharks look bad…
Sharks know how to hurt their supporters by the sound of it.can we never just get up and dominate a team with focus and determination
good stuff
Team work rules!
7 all
Bosman try
Score please
Come on Sharks…
Don’t be the first side to lose to the Highlanders…
TRY SHARKS!
jeeeez….. this game is loose
JP back after 10 minutes in the bin
Hurricanes/cheetahs loose or sharks kinda loose
@chucky (Comment 37) :
Sharks scrappy loose…not free flowing loose…
Steyn is useless
@chucky (Comment 37) : not a good loose…. looks like two teams playing bad ruggu
A. Smith kicks from the 22 but it was passed back. Line out 20m out for the Sharks
Walsh is just atrocious. Brad Thorn comes round the side of the ruck, falls on top of it, seals it off and the Highlanders turn over. WTF was he watching?
Sharks cannot retaining turned over ball…this is rediculous…happened about 4 times now!!!
Mtembu out, Minnie in. Daniel moving to 8
Mtembu is off injured, Minnie on
Finally, Steve Walsh wakes up to their terrible breakdown infringements.
Team warning Highlanders. Sharks going to kick for 3, right in front of the posts
Highlanders killing our ball. I hope Walsh gives this the attention it deserves.
After that warning we should have gone for line out again..
@Franshark (Comment 45) :
That’s better for the Sharks…
That previous kickoff did not go the 10 meters 👿
Why is our luck so bad this year? What a lucky bounce for them.
Great tackle by Mvovo.
knock on, 1 meter from the line, a bid off justice???
great penalty clearance kick from lambi
TRY!!! Mvovo
yeeeessssss!!!!!!
Mvovo!!!
What great play….. that’s rugby boys…..
Top try that! Great work from Lambie, Bosman and Mvovo.
Franco sure makes a huge difference with his line-out organising! Line-outs looks very solid.
Conversion missed, 7-15
Hl 7- 15 Shark
37 min
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 61) : was that miss
It looked in, but the AR’s didn’t give it.
Highlanders miss a penalty
@Franshark (Comment 63) : ok it was 🙂
@blesbeer (Comment 60) :
He does…that’s why the Lions last year had the best % win’s on their throw in of all teams…
Slade is very likeable today…
HT: 7-15
HL 7-15 Sharks
HT
@Hmmm… Did they really? Atleast they where best at something…
@blesbeer (Comment 70) : and you won’t believe this either…they had the scrum that moved forward the most too…
Rucks and scoring they had nothing…lol
It’s quite sad we have so much depth at the loose forwards, with Botes and Deysel being injured, Kanko and Alberts playing for the XV side, Coetzee, Minnie, Mtembu and Daniel playing.
At the same time, we struggle to field a decent center next to play outside of Bosman. I’d rather play with 14 men than Steyn at this stage.
@Hmmm (Comment 71) : Well, there’s no point in winning the ball cleanly when you cannot string 2 passes together in the phase that follows
Another strong performance from Bosman so far!
Just worried we might lose him for the CC due to Bok Call Up! 😯
Try Highlanders, A. Smith
14-15, Sharks still lead
Sharks asleep….. wake up!!!!!!
HL try
For the first time this year the Sharks are gonna have a decent scrum with JC there!!!
Good and you Plum for vastly improving your team like this…
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 73) :
Agreed…
3 points for the Highlanders. 17-15
That’s the Minnie problem, been like that for always, penalty’s and some more penalty’s…..
Steyn injured. Possibly the best thing happening to us today?
Steyn off, Lindeque on
Slade with another 3.
20-15
Sharks not focused here…. needs to get back in this game…..
JC JvR is on as well
Try Slade
And that’s what you get for kicking the ball away… HL two scores in front now…
@Franshark (Comment 81) :
That was a penalty against Daniel…but Minnie does give away a good deal of penalties…
Ridiculous defense. McLeod with an aimless kick to start it off
We play the worst team in the competition who hasn’t won a single game and we f*ck it up
25-15
18 unanswered points
HL 25-15 Sharks
56 min
Minnie off, Deysel on
commentators confuse Daniel with Deysel. Ridiculous
These Sharks and their coaching staff!!
Try Bosman!!!!
His second try of the game!
When Mvovo was running with the ball I thought he was eventually gonna come to a standstill…
Deysel was physical in the loooong period of play…
How useless is this Bosman, really a waste of space at 12 (echoing our resident spoon) 🙄
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 95) : Echo in here?
One gripe:
Why does our backs have to clean the rucks while guys like PSdT hang out on the wing all the time? What`s the use of creating an overlap when we have Cooper as first receiver and locks out wide?
HL22-25Sharks
64 min
Daniel is very poor today…
@Original Pierre (Comment 99) : It’s a cicken or the egg thing. Did the forwards go the wing because the backs are clearing the rucks or is it the other way around?
I think it all started with Steyn hitting the defensive line (like a forward) in stead of passing (like a back)
Again Daniel?!!???!!
Anyone left to replace Daniel?
@Hmmm (Comment 103) : Kanko was deemed not good enough by our idiot coach
Should have subbed Daniel not Minnie? Sharks not looking to bad here… One score could seal the game either way?
JC back on…
Come on Sharks…. win this game…..
McLeod with another signature knock on
@FireTheLooser (Comment 98) :
The Sharks actually have a few terrible players:
Frans Steyn the worst
All your wings that have played…
Lambie
Bosman
Daniel
Great scrum…typical with JC there…
Unsung hero at scrum time…
We cannot loose this game….. 👿
Mvovo is having a sreat game, as is Bosman… Hmmm, think you’re watching last year’s game? Or am I on ESPN classics?
@blesbeer (Comment 112) : So is Lambi….
update on the latest score please
@Franshark (Comment 111) : Yes, we can!!!
25-22 in favor of the Highlanders
7 minutes to go
Nooooooooooo 👿 🙁
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 116) : damn these Sharks better win.
@blesbeer (Comment 112) :
Talking about the season…and I won’t call it great games…you sounding a bit desperate there…
But Bosman and Mvovo and Lambie having better games…
Steyn was still terible…
Sharks turn the ball over at the try line with 2 minuets to go. Typical
Steyn only had about 10min of decent game time this whole season?
WTF? Lambie butchered that chance…
That yellow is looooong over due
PSDT is following in Andries Bekker’s footsteps… Not working as a centre!!!
Sharks lose. Unbelievable
shhhhhhiiiiiiitttttttt
Have we won yet???
Sharks worst SA side of 2013!!!!!!!!
That’s the season…… gonners…. pathetic stuff….
bye bye season. bye bye plumtree. bye bye..thanks for updates
Another game, another loss.
I think our boys lack self belief.
For a guy who does not even have a team to support in the SR, u have a lot to say about OUR team… @Hmmmmm
The one big difference today was Aaron Smith. Well done Highlanders. Deserved to win.
Sharks. Nothing to say.
Well one good thing to come out of this.
Plum should probably fall on his sword . . .
Still better than the Stormpies!
For how much longer are we going to suffer????
Oh well, at least Barney will have a clean slate to work on. None of the current structures/game plans/coaches has to be kept on.
He might as well bring in a BIG broom and clean everything out until he has uprooted this cancer in Sharks rugby.
Minnie’s penalty’s cost us this game…. he had a shocker….
come on, bring back Konko and play him at 8 where he should play…..
supporting the Sharks is not always great,
which side will pitch up is open to debate,
can they still pull it out of the fire,
no, not now that it is down to the wire,
wherein lies the problem,
Crazy ol Plum or Daniel the goblen,
Better luck next year o wonderful Sharks,
atleast the heart attack wont have any sparks…
@Original Pierre (Comment 134) : You can forget that. Mr Excuses will dish up all sorts of excuses for the loss, he’ll even tell us how much the players are hurting and how gutted they are. We need a CEO and a board that is bold. 6 years of this shit is too much for the players and fans. This is just too much to stomach.
@Hmmm (Comment 128) : No, I think that goes to the Limpopo Blue Bulls 😉
@GreatSharksays (Comment 140) : We need a Sir Alex at the Sharks.
WE JUST LOST TO THE HiLanders……. Somebody shoot me…….
Gerhardt, if you’re reading this…. get the message. You’re banned. Stop posting comments and go away.
This is what happens when yo get so many “coaches” involved in pre season. you spoil the broth. John Mitchell, Spencer, Kayser etc… really? who next- Derrick Watts??
Maybe Mallet will do a job for us- please NO MORE former shark players
@robdylan (Comment 144) : Not a Man U fan?
@rhineshark (Comment 146) : I don’t get it.
And do, I’m not. Football is stupid
Why do these Lions supporters feel the need to come over to this site and troll?
Geez, what’s wrong with these people…? 😯
@robdylan (Comment 147) : Sorry, wasn’t concentrating and thought you were referring to me (Gerhardt) when you said to stop posting. 😳
I also think football is stupid, especially Pom football, but someone like Alex Ferguson would do miracles at the Sharks.
@SeanyJMc (Comment 141) :
Hahahha…you got me there…
@TRF_Ezequiel (Comment 3) : What now? Steyn played brilliantly, Minnie played like crap (and he really didn’t play that well last week either).
@CapeShark (Comment 148) :
Aye I don’t troll…I was rooting for the Sharks here…and every game…
I want the Cheetahs and Sharks to be the 2 top SA sides…
But it seems most likely to be Bulls and then Cheetahs…
But I gotto be honest…right?
@robdylan (Comment 147) :
Yeh agree…football is…
@rhineshark (Comment 149) : no, some other idiot who I banned about 3 years back insists on posting comments, which all go straight to moderation.
@Hmmm (Comment 119) : Steyn played well. I don’t know what the hell you are on about.
@David12246 (Comment 151) :
Steyn did not play brilliantly…
Minnie neither…but last week he was very effective at the ruck…and in tackle…
The Sharks backline is letting them down in general…
@David12246 (Comment 155) :
He missed tackles..made passing mistakes…handling errors…etc etc
Aye guy…Sharks standards are MUCH better than calling that brilliant…
@Ice (Comment 132) :
Cold Ice…cold!!! LoL
@Hmmm (Comment 152) : Yes you can be honest but at least be accurate. Mvovo and Bosman had great games. Mvovo is a bloody fast winger. To say otherwise comes across as either the ramblings of a troll – or a twit.
@CapeShark (Comment 159) :
But I am accurate…and I did say they had good games…and said I don’t agree it’s brilliant…I even mentioned Lambie had been playing better on tour…well until he missed the penalty kick to touch…
But you don’t need me to say that the Sharks backline is poor in general…here and there a player playing well but that’s about it…
Reinach and Mcload have most probably been the most consistant…
@CapeShark (Comment 159) :
And I don’t agree he is fast if compared to Habana, Basson, etc…but he did put in some good tackles…which is not usually part of his game…loved to see that…and for the first time in like 2 odd seasons he consistantly beat the defense…was good to see…
@robdylan (Comment 147) : @Hmmm (Comment 153) : All you need to know is that German football rule!!!!!!! Long live Bayern Munich!!!!! O yes and one other thing Sharks team can really learn how to run into gaps by watching some football!!!!!!! these guys run for almost 90min. and always run into open space, something our team seems unable to do.