The Sharks went down by 29 points to 33 in a closely-contested match in Johannesburg last night. A late try to Bok prop CJ van der Linde eventually broke the deadlock and sealed a result that, on balance, should probably have gone the way of the hosts.
The Sharks started like house on fire, and dominated possession and territory for the opening period. The Lions, however, struck back and it didn’t take long before Sharks captain Keegan Daniel ended up on the wrong side of referee Louwrens van der Merwe. The captain earned a yellow card for a professional foul not 15 minutes into the match, with the Lions scoring their opening points via a penalty try from the ensuing scrum. That carding was to have a direct effect on the Sharks and ultimately cost them the match, as it allowed the Lions to establish scrum ascendancy early on, which they never relinquished. A serious-looking injury to prop Wiehahn Herbst did little to aid the cause, with the raw Allan Dell asked to step up against the monstrous JC Janse van Rensburg, with predictable results.
The Sharks, though, recovered superbly from that early setback and controlled possession well for the remainder of the half. Louis Ludik, in his comeback game from injury, was a cut above the rest at outside center and it was a clean break from him that set up the opening try, scored by Riaan Viljoen. Further good work from Ludik set up the second, scored by prop Dale Chadwick after a deft pass from flyhalf Butch James. The third followed, with Heimar Williams capping off a good first-half display by strolling over, again after good distribution from James.
The Sharks suffered further injury setbacks in the second half, with James and Jandre Marais both forced off and with the Lions finally finding their rhythm, it was pretty close to one-way traffic after the break. Daniel and the referee continued their bickering throughout, but as is always the case, it was the Sharks who came off second best as their attempts to counter the Lions’ stronger driving maul were penalised repeatedly. Two Lions tries were scored directly via this route, the first a clear one to Derick Minnie, the other a seemingly impossible affair attributed to Hendrik Roodt despite no evidence whatsoever that the ball was actually grounded. Further scores were added by impressive winger Ruan Combrinck and van der Linde, who scored in the final minutes to restore the Lions lead after the Sharks had momentarily nosed ahead. Their only points in the second half came via a try to Jandre Marais, with Fred Zeiling adding a conversion and a penalty.
For the Sharks, there was much to enthuse over, but also some serious concerns ahead of the Super Rugby – and Currie Cup – games to follow. Daniel’s play and leadership remains a real worry, as does the scrum. We must remember that neither Dell nor Chadwick has played any rugby at all in months, so some ring-rustiness should have been expected. Given how out-of-sorts these Sharks were expected to be, considering the off-field dramas, this was a reasonable result against a well-drilled, fit and powerful Lions side.
For the Sharks, new lock Edwin Hewitt had a busy game, while Kyle Cooper and Jean Deysel also stood out up front. Ludik was superb in the first half, along with James, while Odwa Ndungane stood up strongly on defence.
Scores:
Lions (33): Tries Penalty try, Derick Minnie, Ruan Combrinck, Hendrik Roodt, CJ van der Linde. Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (4).
Sharks (29): Tries Riaan Viljoen, Dale Chadwick, Heimar Williams, Jandre Marais. Conversions: Butch James (2), Fred Zeilinga. Penalty Zeilinga.
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Rob, I feel mostly for you man! Having to write report after report like today…. I downed my dop last night and went to bed… How long is this gonna go on? We were strong enough to beat a well drilled unit there! AGAIN injury concerns!!! Look we fired the coach already… surely the next step is to look at the conditioning and medical staff!? This injury season is getting ridiculous!?
Sorry for sounding bitter today… but there is just very faint light shining at the sharktank!
@R Hayward (Comment 1) : things get worse before they get better. We’re going to need the fans to hang on through what might be a difficult Currie Cup season.
@robdylan (Comment 2) : I was just about to comment and say: Remember that post you did when we were touring and could not get a win! THE TEAM, CAPTAIN and NEW STAFF needs us MORE THAN EVER NOW!!!
My apologies for being negative!!! LETS GET BEHIND OUR TEAM FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!!
First thing I noticed was that Bashford seemed to be the coach. The biggest concern for me was that our scrum got beaten up after Herbst left the field. If he’s injured long term then we are going to have problems in the CC. on the bright side, with some decent coaching there’s some serious skill in the backline for us to look forward to.
Maybe Keegan is just not the captain we need. Maybe he is trying to hard. But a rethink is neccessary. I still believe that he is a good enough player and will regain the form we know him for.
It all went pear shaped once Butch left the field, he controlled the game really well.
Sadly our youngsters still have some way to go.
Our scrum was a right old mess.
KD must be the worst captain we have ever had.
how many yellow cards has he had being captain now?
Watched Allan Dell most of his life,never rated him as a good scrummager,liked the look of the new lock.
@bobby 26 (Comment 8) : he gives up 10-15kg to most of the guys he’s scrumming against.
I think he needs to go the Smit route, personally.
Rob, your tweet about Japan, Keegan and Kanko just gave me my morning laugh!!!!!!
@Stu (Comment 10) : some okes are nailing me for not being supportive of the captain, but shit man – I’ve had enough.
@robdylan (Comment 11) : Yep well I’m a little pissed at him as well. Never mind all the penalties he conceded against the Bulls and last night, that “pass he didnt make” cost us a win against the Bulls and that “chip kick that went nowhere” led to the Lions winning try last night.
Was a good game… Nice to see James, Ludik, and Chadwick back. It was also good to see some talented youngsters get a go, most notably Zeilinga, Williams, Dell, Stander, etc. I would have liked to see Reinach back, despite the good game McLeod was having.
Yeah tough night for Allan, JC gave him a work over last night, but to be fair, he was up against undoubtely the best scrummaging loosehead in the country, he’s just come back from injury and he’s played at loosehead mostly, so going on at tighthead required quite a step up. He’ll be 1st to admit that he was far from his best in the set piece.
Good workrate around the park though, put in a good defensive effort, showed touches of good leadership
@Ludz (Comment 14) : you and i have watch him many times at school,never seen him dominate any school boy scrum or school boy from the bigger schools.eg Dale Selborne,but the rest you say,i am with you 100%,good kid
@Ludz (Comment 14) : goodluck at Cape schools today,may the KUDU roar
@bobby 26 (Comment 16) : Yeah, gonna be tough out there, got faith in the boys though, Simon Bolze’s leadership will come through and they’re playing a lot better than earlier this season. Who are you supporting. Queen’s or Selborne? 😆
@Ludz (Comment 17) : all things Eastern Cape,except the pansies
@David12246 (Comment 13) : Reinach wasn’t there. He pulled out and was replaced by Tian Meyer. Meyer got 20 minutes at wing, although you didn’t see much of him
@bobby 26 (Comment 15) : My view is that Allan is going to find the going at tighthead pretty tough in senior rugby. He can be a very useful loosehead, though, given his mobility and work rate, but I wonder if hooker isn’t where his future lies.
@bobby 26 (Comment 18) : apparently a couple of their Craven Week players aren’t going to play
@robdylan (Comment 20) : Rob ja,i am a little skeptical of all the small props and short and slow loose forwards moving to hooker,like in all positions it takes years to develop the feel for that position and not many succeed.He does have the skills thro.Would like to have seen more of that Stander chap last night,could be the sledgehammer we have been waiting for.
@Ludz (Comment 21) : smoke and mirrors boet
KD brings a great deal of spark to the game…but I have always said he is not a leader and always got told off…
I do think had Jean Deysel been captain the Sharks could have won…or most probably would have…
Even when the Sharks clearly came in from the side at the maul he was debating the penalty with the ref as opposed to taking responcibility and talking to the players…
JC is very underrated…even though the Lions was last in almost every stats last year…they had the scrum that went forward the most last year…
Hope Kanko is ready and that the Sharks can nail the Blues next week!!! GO SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!
@JD (Comment 26) :
I also hope they do…no realistic chance of making the play-offs…but be good to finish high up on the log…
Hmmm yes hope they win just for the players and coach.
@robdylan (Comment 9) : Agree 100%; he looks and plays like a hooker…so he’s a hooker 😉 Dell is such an athlete, he will make a great hooker. If he doesn’t go hooker he needs to only play at loosehead.
If Dell goes hooker he needs to work on throwing, I would rather have him play loosehead.
How many times must Keegan stuff-up before he gets dropped?!?!?!?!?!
Hi Guys I`m Back.
Seems Plum got fired in my absence? Well Done John Smit!
But the Sharks also lost to a Vodacom Cup team?!
Further news I heard is that our only fetcher was allowed to leave us but for some bizarre reason Keegan still gets to play?! 🙄
@Original Pierre (Comment 32) : who is our only fetcher?
@robdylan (Comment 33) :
He are talking about the Bosman.
@Original Pierre (Comment 32) :
Oh, and welcome back!
@Big Fish (Comment 34) : MEYER Bosman?
What have I missed?
@robdylan (Comment 36) :
Clearly you aren’t reading OP’s work closely enough. He is a big fan of Bosman’s fetching abilities.
@robdylan (Comment 33) : Meyer Bosman!!
On a serious note though. Being back in Cape Town Sucks. Please remind me what it was I used to like about this place?
@FireTheLooser (Comment 39) : Well it certainly isn`t the weather.
Can you believe they even allowed Burger King to open here, as if obesity isn`t enough of a problem?!
How I miss the place where you have more models in the streets than on FTV . . . 🙄
@Original Pierre (Comment 38) : Where have you been?
@Original Pierre (Comment 40) : Ahh I see, Pattaya.
@Original Pierre (Comment 40) : As for the Burger King, guess who officially opened it, yep the Cpt Mayor, with live reports on Cape Talk on the hour…, I kid you not.
Thought we played quite well 1st half – despite our “wonderful” captain being off for 10 mins. I would have taken Keegan off in the 2nd half because of his tiff with the ref after every penalty against us. Have no idea what happened in the 2nd half – was cringing when our scrum got demolished. We were definitely hard done by that apparent “try” they scored that no one could see clearly. Anyway Louis was awesome at centre
@RedSharkUtd82 (Comment 44) : would’ve been a lot cleverer to let Deysel take over the negotiations with Louwrens in Afrikaans.
@robdylan (Comment 44) : Hahaha yeah that could have helped 😉
Some chap phoned in to the SuperRugby programme last night and said that Keegan spat at the ref at 65 minutes. Did anyone see it.
Its stupid if he went that route..he should have rather klapped him and got it over with.