We revealed late last year that record Bok try-scorer, Tonderai Chavanga, had joined the Sharks squad for pre-season. Battling yet another in a long line of injuries, 30-year-old Chavanga (who enjoys a close relationship with Jake White) opted to put his faith in the excellent medical staff at the Sharks with the hope of making one last push for a spot in Super Rugby.
The Zimbabwean speedster – who according to Wikipedia clocked a 10.27s over 100m in his youth – is one of a handful of players to have scored more test tries than he has played tests, with his 6 touch downs on debut against Uruguay in 2005 a record that is unlikely to be beaten. Chavanga only played for the Springboks in three other tests, as persistent injury and the rise of players like Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen conspired to consign him to a bit part at Test level.
According to reports and pictures out of Durban, though, Chavanga looks to have succeeded in his primary goal, at least – he’s fit and healthy and, what’s more, appears to still be very much in the selection frame for the Sharks. With White having intimated on a number of occasions that he feels the Sharks lack for out-and-out pace, Chavanga seems just the sort of player to which the coach might consider turning. Don’t fall of your chairs, in other words, if he gets a run against the Lions on Friday night.
In other news, the Sharks appeared to be training with a pretty full complement of players last week; Marcell Coetzee, Anton Bresler, Keegan Daniel, Frans Steyn and even SP Marais all look to be participating fully and must surely all be in with a good shot for selection when the season opens on 15 February.
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Chavanga is only fast, he doesn’t really have rugby skills.
@lostfish (Comment 1) : enough rugby skills on his inside. 😀 😀 Run Forrest Run
@lostfish (Comment 1) : BS…He has played some of his better rugby at 15 in the past, can kick, great under the high ball and has a strong handoff. Has more skills than JPP…don’t think he is just speed.
@West Indies Cricket Board (Comment 2) : 😆
@lostfish (Comment 1) : Kinda agreeing with you on this one.
@JJR (Comment 3) : more skills than JP?
Dude, you know you’re only meant to do one neknomination per day, right?
@robdylan (Comment 6) : Ha Ha…JPP is all about physicality most of the time, imo…don’t see that much finesse from him. Just the way i see it 🙂
Nice to see SP and Anton back but I’m guessing they won’t start on Friday.
@robdylan (Comment 6) : I had to google that word. Why do you know what it means? 😀 😀 What are you guys up to in England?
@West Indies Cricket Board (Comment 9) : I blame facebook 🙂
Cannot wait to see the Sharks team at full strength,
15 SP/Van Tonder
14 JPP/Odwa/Sbura
13 Jordaan/Fisher/Whitehead
12 Steyn/Esterhuizen/Williams
11 Mvovo/Chavanga/
10 Lambie/Fred/Swiel
09 Mcleod/Reinach
08 Kanko/Terra
07 Alberts/Deysel
06 Coetsee/Daniel/Botes
05 PSDT/Lewies
04 Bresler/Oosthuizen/Hewitt
03 Jannie/Lourens/Herbst
02 Bismark/Cooper/Redebe
01 Beast/Chadwick/Dell
Eish, what a squad JW has to work with,and there are so many good players not mentioned by me here.
@robdylan (Comment 6) : I have an old set of Glasses I can loan JJR
@robdylan (Comment 6) : Do you partake?
@lostfish (Comment 1) : played with Chivanga and Gorden Pangetti 2003/2004. As a Centre I always knew he was going to beet his man force the second line to shift and feed the inside support. Chivanga scored lots of tries but he made a lot more. I hope you are wrong about his skills. He always had confidence issues. One season he would be safe under the high ball, the next season hopeless. Let’s hope white has the goods to bring out the best in Chivanga. But who will he replace? Don’t we have enough wings?
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 13) : haven’t been called on, as yet. A little disappointed, to be honest
@sharks_lover (Comment 11) : I rather like the fisher option at the back…I think he brings a lot of punch into 15. But Swiel and Marais has huge X factor!
@BoerSeun (Comment 14) : more questions than answer for me, at this stage.
We know he had pace – and lots of it – but he’s been out for so long (either injury or playing for Newport in Wales) that I don’t think any of us can say with any real certainty whether he is still fast enough to really stand out.
He’s also not that much younger than Odwa (the outside back most in need of “refreshing”), so hardly makes sense as any sort of long term replacement there
Is he genuinely fit and strong or just fit enough to run, there is a difference. Its pointless if he is barely just fit and then pulls up lame after 2 sprints and a tackle in a game. But agree with JW- there is no replacement for pure pace. Especially out wide.
@SheldonK (Comment 18) : if that’s going to happen, I’d prefer for it to happen in a warm-up game against the Lions
Not saying the guy isn’t good enough for s15, but nothing to get exciting about
Having that kind of speed coming of the bench in last 20 min may work if that’s all he got.
@JJR (Comment 3) : LOL ! Stirring …
But hey we ll all be right here to remind you of that comment for the rest of the [email protected]robdylan (Comment 19) : Agreed, last thing we can afford against the bulls is a wing with iffy defense and a couple of fumbles …
Did the stormers ever really win anything while he played here in cape town?
But with Mvovo out I guess it s nice to have some options at least?
I m guessing we won t see Hansie Graaff this year either?
@robdylan (Comment 19) : Yeh true- play him the full 80min to assess, rather in game with unlimited subs than in game with 3 backline subs. Same with all our guys returning from injury
SA version of a #neknomination
http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/02/this-south-african-man-did-something-amazing-with-his-neknomination-4288467/
And then a real creative #neknomination
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152240819301111&set=vb.710556110&type=2&theater
@Original Pierre (Comment 22) : I reckon we don’t really need Chavanga, Jordaan has pace aplenty and has good defense, Also Fisher and there is Sithole too just to name a few.
Meh…Chavanga. I wish him all the best, but any sports science guy will tell you once a player has crocked his ACL ligaments, that’s pretty much the end of a reliable career. Don’t know why Jake wants to invest in a 30-year old, but he gave Rathbone a comeback chance and it seemed to work out for him.
@The Great Couch Shark (Comment 26) : Difference is that Rathbone was more mental than Physical, so not to difficult.
I understand the old lock we got as he will be coaching our locks too etc? but I do not see the Chavanga point and he seriously never ever was a good defender
@Original Pierre (Comment 22) : Stormers have won diddly squat with Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers in their teams – that includes their WP teams.
@Original Pierre (Comment 22) : I was also wondering about Graaf. Didn’t they say he will only have a few months to prove himself and not the whole season? At the moment I can’t see him given a chance in SR, maybe in the Vodacom cup if he is still around…
If anyone’s interested there seems to be a video compilation of his stints in the French leagues last year (I can only assume was put together by his agent for Jake 😛 )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOkI5KK82ck
@BoerSeun (Comment 14) : He has speed but is erratic, can’t really kick all that well and gets injured too easily. No point in contracting someone and then end up paying his medical bills and get nothing out of him.
@The Great Couch Shark (Comment 30) : He played in Wales.
What would a Sharks over 25 team look like compared to an under 25…?
@The Great Couch Shark (Comment 26) : well, following that logic, we should get rid of Jordaan now as well
@robdylan (Comment 34) : They lost against Saracens- fire the lot! Get in Donald Trump to do it
I agree with the fact that we need speed. I hope everything works out for him.
@lostfish (Comment 32) : Sorry, wasn’t really paying that much attention to the teams on the video. Point is, I think Super Rugby will be a bit of a step up for him.
@robdylan (Comment 34) : I got a bad feeling about Jordaan’s wobbly knees too. 🙄
I was told Swiel and Esterhuizen have been cut,can’t believe Esterhuizen can be cut after the sarries game.
Vodacom cup side are playing Rovers on Thursday as a warmup game,so that might give us an idea of whats going on there.
@bobby 26 (Comment 39) : neither Esterhuizen nor Swiel is in the picture snapped after practice today…
I like Chavanga, the little I’ve seen of him anyway. I got the impression that he’s the type of winger that works hard to keep the ball alive.